Thought Wasps and Luna Moths
by Luthien Snowtail
Summary: A collection of one-shots/drabbles about all kinds of things! all Zutara, but pretty much every shipping except *shudders*-kataang will probably eventually be here. rated T for safety, though so far none of them really warrant it! :
1. Life is Good

"When do you think they'll get here?"

"Hmm?"

"Zuko! Toph and Aang sent a message saying they were coming! Were you even listening at all when I told you about that?" She stopped brushing her hair and stared at him exasperatedly

"Oh, yeah! I was listening to that! I just didn't know that was what you were talking about!" He grinned

"Well I hope it's soon! I've missed them a lot. If only Sokka and Suki would come too. Then it'd be perfect." She sighed, and he couldn't resist going to kiss her on the forehead.

"Oh Katara. You really miss them don't you?"

She nodded

"I'm sorry that I fell madly in love with you and wouldn't let you go resume your old life." He grinned and she giggled

"Um, Zuko… I think it was the other way around. I fell madly in love with you!"

"Nope… well maybe both." This time he kissed her on the lips

They were interrupted by a sharp knock on the door. Katara rolled her eyes and went to answer it. A servant was standing there with a pile of red robes.

"I'm here to help you get dressed, my lady…" the servant – Hitomi was her name – smiled brightly

"Thank you very much, but I am capable of dressing myself. I'll just take those," she lifted the pile of robes out of Hitomi's hands, "Thank you again!" She shut the door and turned back to Zuko

"My goodness, I can get dressed myself! I did it for sixteen years!" She shook her head in annoyance

"Katara, she's just trying to help! It's her job…"

"I know. I'm sorry!"

She pulled her soft blue nightgown off, (She could wear whatever she wanted to sleep in, but she had no such luck during the day) and slipped on the black under-dress. Over that went a harsh red robe. Even after three years of marriage and five years of living in the Fire Nation, she still wasn't used to their color palate. She didn't hate it like she used to, but it wasn't home to her yet.

Over the robe she fit a stiff gold collar. They had audiences today and she had to look the part of a formal Fire Lady.

"If Toph and Aang get here any time soon, can we blow off all your assignments?" Katara smiled pleadingly at Zuko

He shook his head sadly, "I have audiences today that have been booked for weeks. I have to keep them." He considered for a minute, "I guess you can miss them. If Toph and Aang get here."

She went and circled her arms around his waist, putting her head in that perfect place just below his chin. "I don't want to leave you stranded. They can entertain themselves for an afternoon."

He smiled and reached down to kiss her, but they were interrupted yet again by a knock.

"Darn women and their morning ministrations," He smiled to show he was kidding.

She swatted him playfully as she went to the door again.

"Now I'm here to do your hair, My Lady. I think you need me for that." Hitomi's words were said with amusement and gentle teasing, not harshness.

"Indeed I do! Come in," Katara opened the door wide, allowing Hitomi to slip in. The servant bowed slightly to Zuko and went into to the bathroom.

"I'll see you later," Zuko kissed Katara lightly, "Just come to the throne room when you're ready. We can eat breakfast in there."

"'Bye love. See you there." She smiled as she watched him walk out the door. Life was good.

"Lady Katara?" Hitomi's kind voice came from the bathroom, "I'm ready to do your hair."

Right! She went over to the bathroom and slipped into the comfortable chair, putting her hair over the back. Hitomi began brushing it, and even though Katara had already done it herself she didn't complain. It was relaxing.

That was, until she suddenly heaved. Putting her hand over her mouth in a futile gesture, she ran to the toilet. Hitomi held her hair out of the way as she lost her dinner from the night before.

"I'm sorry," She rasped once she was done, "I didn't mean to –"

"It wasn't in your control, My Lady! Look, I'm telling you, you need –"

"Hitomi, no… I know that isn't it." Katara moved towards the sink to get a glass of water

"Lady Katara, yes. My sister was throwing up just like that, every morning, and when she went to the doctor he said –"

"I know what he said Hitomi. You've told me five million times. Please, let me be, just this once? I'll call for the doctor when I want to, and not before!" She filled the glass with shaky hands, and ended up spilling it.

Hitomi sighed and took the glass from her hands, filling it deftly before giving it back.

"I'm sorry M'lady. I was- I'm sorry."

Katara spit the water back into the sink, cleansing her mouth.

"I'm sorry too, Hitomi. I didn't mean to be harsh. I just… don't feel well. Obviously."

The servant nodded sharply, and helped the Fire Lady back into her chair.

They stayed silent while Hitomi was doing Katara's hair. Usually they talked, discussed things, but today they were both too tired. This was why Katara, with her sharp bender's ears, could hear the two people approaching from far off down the hall.

"Ok, Monsieur Uptight, just show me to Katara's room! I don't care what 'appointments' she has."

"I apologize, Madame, I simply cannot do that!"

"Monsieur! I could bend you to Ba Sing Se and back and yet you're trying to stop me from getting to my friend's room? I was trying to keep this civilized, but if you want to go down that road…"

"No, Madame, that won't be necessary! I'll take you; it's just down this hallway."

There was a bit of silence in which Katara could hear faint footsteps, and then she heard the man's hesitant voice.

"My name is Lan. You can call me Lan. You don't need to, um, call me that other name."

Katara could practically see him shaking

"Um, no. Nicknames are my shtick, Monsieur!"

"But it's not my name! Where did you come up with that anyway? It's… it's a mockery of me!"

"Indeed, bucko! I mean come on; you speak in an accent of a language that isn't even spoken in this world! That's quite a characteristic! I like making nicknames off of blatantly obvious characteristics."

"But, Madame!"

"Nope. Is this the door, Monsieur Uptight? Hmm, that's a little long. Perhaps I'll shorten it to Mu," Katara nearly saw her nonchalant shrug, "Ah, well, we'll see. Thanks for the tour, Mu. Hmm, it works."

A knock was heard on the door. Hitomi slid Katara's hair piece in and went to get the door, but the Fire Lady was there first. She was flinging open the door and holding her arms out for Toph to run into.

"Sweetness!" Toph's voice was muffled by Katara's robes, "I missed you!"

"I missed you too Toph! Very very much!"

Toph squirmed out of Katara's tight grasp and punched her on the arm, "Glad to see you, Fire Lady Katara!" she smirked

"Oh, alright, Toph. Don't you have a title too? I mean, 'Lady Avatar', or something like that? Wife of the Avatar, that's pretty special!"

Toph blushed, something that was rarely seen.

"Being wife of Aang is even more special."

"Toph! That's the sweetest, most thoughtful thing I think I've ever heard you say!"

"Well, I've grown up, sweetness! Anyway, if you ever tell _anyone_ I said that, you're good as smashed!"

Katara laughed, "Oh, ok. Listen, I'm really, really sorry we couldn't make your wedding. Zuko… oh Toph, Zuko found his mother!"

"Really? That's incredible! Why didn't you send a message to us?"

"We don't want the news getting out until she can face the public," Toph's eyes grew stormy and Katara threw up her hands, "I know, I know, you're a great secret keeper, but people read our messages Toph! I had to tell you in person. She's pretty much worse for the wear and we want her to regain every ounce of strength before we throw her to the wolves. She's a resilient woman though; I think she'll be ok pretty soon."

"That's really great. I'm so happy for him!"

"Thanks! So where's Aang?" Katara peered past Toph into the dim hallway, though she knew he wasn't there.

"He's with Zuko, in the throne room. They sent me to get you. Come on, I have a surprise for the two of you!" Toph grabbed Katara's hand and started to pull her out of the door, but she wiggled out and faced Hitomi.

"Am I complete?"

Hitomi scanned her, and then nodded.

"Fantatious as always," She grinned

"Thanks Hitomi, you're the best a girl could get!"

"Indeed, m'lady!"

Katara nodded goodbye to the servant and let herself be dragged out by Toph.

"So, are you certain of her confidentiality?" Toph inclined her head back to Hitomi

Katara nodded emphatically, and then realized that Toph couldn't see her.

"Yes, very much so. Hitomi has become a great friend, though I'm afraid I don't treat her as one sometimes!"

Toph shrugged, "Cool!"

The girls raced through the halls and by the end Katara was feeling nauseous again.

"Just let me… catch my breath… before we go… in." She sat on a bench by the throne room door

"Man, have you just been lying around? You're really out of shape if _that_ made you out of breath!" Toph kept a smirk on her face

"No, I've been bending, I practice every day! I don't know why I'm so out of breath! I'm ok now though." Katara stood up and the guards opened the large throne room doors for her and Toph.

"Thank you," she shot over her shoulder at the guards.

"Of course, My Lady," they promptly replied.

Her day was made infinitely better by the sight of Zuko's face.

"Katara!" He smiled blissfully and she smiled back, but kept her formal pace. When she finally reached the throne, he helped her to her chair and gave her a kiss, "I missed you"

"I missed you too," she replied

"You guys are disgusting," Toph rolled her eyes and Aang made barfing noises. This prompted a high five, which prompted a kiss.

"Oh yeah, we're disgusting!" Zuko raised his eyebrows and Katara stifled a giggle

"So Toph, about that surprise?"

"Oh yeah!" She stopped kissing Aang, "Guards, go ahead! Oh man, you guys are gonna flip!"

Katara wasn't sure about that, but the opening doors helped assuage her doubts. Whatever it was, it was something big.

"Ok, now you guys have to close your eyes!"

They complied. Katara heard nothing; no squeaky wheels from a cart, and no grunts of men who were carrying something heavy. After a few seconds she could hear footsteps, and then she heard a sneeze that was almost more familiar than the sound of her name.

Her eyes flew open the same time she squealed, "Sokka!"

She leapt off of the throne and into his arms and he chuckled.

"Hey sis! I missed you too!"

Greetings and embraces were exchanged and after a few minutes (and much loud talking) they settled into a familiar circle. Servants brought in enough breakfast for everyone, practically a grand feast.

"This is great, but your cooking is better!" Suki smiled sweetly at Katara

"Aw, thanks Suki! Although, I am so happy I don't have to cook for all of you anymore! Especially you!" She elbowed her brother who was sitting next to her and he shrugged,

"Hey, a boy has to eat! I needed to feed my ever-growing muscles!" He grinned

"Oh, please!" She rolled her eyes with exasperation

"Ah, family, together again!" Zuko laughed and slipped his arm lovingly around Katara.

"Speaking of that, I have another surprise for you guys!" Toph let a wicked grin overtake her face.

"What is it? I don't think you can top Sokka and Suki!" Katara smiled at the couple

"Oh, this will come pretty close!"

"Well?" Zuko made a hand motion for her to go on.

"Katara has two heartbeats!"

The Fire Royalty exchanged duplicate puzzled glances

"Excuse me?" Katara frowned

Toph smiled.

"You're pregnant, sweetness!"

* * *

(A/N) – I figure since this is a one-shot/drabble I can put my author's note here!

WOW I love love love this. SO much!

HA ok, so I got the idea for this when I was brushing my teeth the other night. I was just standing there calmly brushing my teeth, but I was bored so I was inventing conversations in my head. (This is something I do rather often. Should I be worried about my sanity? Naw, I quit worrying about that ages ago!) :D

SO ANYWAY I was dreaming up this conversation between Toph and some random weird lame servant butler guy, where she was saying how nicknames are her 'thang' and he had a French accent, and then she's all like 'what, French isn't even a language in avataria!'

WELL THEN I was thinking 'Hey, this would make an interesting one-shot!' so I sat down today and started writing, and it turned into this baby! Which happens to not be about Toph completely, but indirectly. Honestly, she is the only character I feel I can write and she's not completely OOC. I feel like I at least get _close_ with her! I dunno why, I just do!

hope you liked it!


	2. How It Should Have Ended

"You need some help with that?" The dry voice was not the one he expected, but he didn't realize it until he had already turned around. Though he felt a bit differently, he was glad to see she was alright.

"Mai! You're ok! They let you out of prison?"

She smiled slightly as she helped him with his sleeve, "My uncle pulled a few strings," suddenly she was wrapping her arms around him, tying his robe, "And it doesn't hurt when the Fire Lord is your boyfriend!"

He winced, "Mai, look. About that. I'm really sorry for what I did, and I think you're great but… I… I just don't think we're made for each other. I really hope we can stay friends, and trust me it's nothing about you, it's all me. I've changed, a lot."

The dark girl released her arms and took a step back, "Did you really just say that? Friends? Nothing about me? Zuko, please! Don't do this!" It was the most emotion he had ever seen her exhibit.

"Mai, I promise, I –"

"Zuko, do you need any – Oh! I'm sorry!" The latest arrival's blue eyes got icy, "Was I interrupting something?"

"No. Mai was just leaving." Zuko sighed

"So, this is it. I get it now," Mai let loose an emotionless laugh, "I understand. Fine Zuko, if that's it then that's it."

"I was just coming to help Zuko; I didn't mean to get in the middle! I can leave if that's easiest!" The new girl bit her lip uncertainly

"Ha! You were coming to help him. Well guess what, that's why I was here too! Only, I showed up at precisely the right time. Just when he needed me. You, my dear, are a little late." Mai was almost spitting.

"I know, that was a spot of bad luck. It's rather hard to get away from your adoring fans you know. Once you save the world, everyone wants an autograph or for you to just say hi. You're practically a hero! Although, I guess you wouldn't know about that," The girl shrugged, but she couldn't keep the smirk off of her face.

"You! I saved your brother and your father, you ungrateful –" She was stopped by a firm hand on her shoulder

"Mai…" He shook his head slightly.

She frowned, "Ok, ok. I knew I would never be happy. I don't know why I even bothered trying. Goodbye Zuko." She walked away, and the other girl knew she saw tears.

"Mai? Thank you. For saving my family. You're right, I was being ungrateful. I'm sorry."

Mai stopped and gave a short nod, then practically ran out the door.

The blue-eyed girl smiled and found her way into the future Fire Lord's arms.

"I'm sorry about that," He whispered in her ear.

"No, I am. It got out of hand. I'm sorry it wasn't easy."

"Life is never easy. Something I've come to realize."

"Indeed," she sighed

"Speaking of not easy… are you going to tell Aang anytime soon?"

"Zuko, I can't… he… he blocked the Avatar State for me. I need to work up to it."

"I'm tired of keeping this a secret! Of not being able to go hold you whenever I darn well please!"

She blushed, "I know. Me too. I'll do it, eventually."

"Sooner than later please," He kissed her gently

She nodded, "Ok. I will, I'll do it before we leave for Ba Sing Se."

"Thank you, Sweetness."

"Anytime, Sparky. Now don't you have a coronation to go to?"

"Don't remind me. I can't do it. I can't run a Nation."

"You can. I believe in you. You're amazing, Zuko." She grinned and hugged him tight, "I have to go now. I… I love you."

"I love you too Katara. Thank you."

* * *

_Blood has been harder to dam back than water.  
Just when we think we have it impounded safe  
Behind new barrier walls (and let it chafe!),  
It breaks away in some new kind of slaughter.  
We choose to say it is let loose by the devil;  
But power of blood itself releases blood.  
It goes by might of being such a flood  
Held high at so unnatural a level.  
It will have outlet, brave and not so brave.  
weapons of war and implements of peace  
Are but the points at which it finds release.  
And now it is once more the tidal wave  
That when it has swept by leaves summits stained.  
Oh, blood will out. It cannot be contained. _

_~Robert Frost (The Flood)_

* * *

Silent but deadly

Invisible but solid

Sweet but raging

The waterbender glanced up at the moon uncertainly. There was but a shadow to show its presence.

The new moon was her least favorite time.

"Yue, my friend, please help me. I know you probably don't condone my actions, but give me strength for the sake of our friendship. Please," She stared at the sky, searching for any sign her spirit friend had heard her, but nothing came. Biting her lip in annoyance and confusion, she continued on her path.

When she reached the gate and saw the guard, she knew the time had come. Narrowing her pretty blue eyes in sorrow and pain, she pulled her arms up, preparing for what she had to do. She had sworn she would never do this again, but here she was.

Love would make you do crazy things, they said, and they were right.

She put the mask on over her face and was surprised to discover that it still smelled of Zuko. This reminded her of the last mission she had been on and that gave her strength.

Within minutes she had the guard asleep, on the ground. She was exhausted too, though.

She slumped on the ground and once again called out to the Moon Spirit.

"Please! For the sake of your love for my brother! For the sake of the family you almost were! I need you, Yue! Help me!" She was ashamed to find tears flowing. Suddenly a breeze blew past and brought clean air to her lungs.

"Thank you," she whispered

Feeling much better she slipped through the heavy door and down the cold dark halls. She didn't have the time or tools to light a torch, so she had to continue in the almost darkness. Glad she had taken the time to memorize the turns and steps, she made her way to the cell where he was kept. She was prepared for the multiple cages she had to get through. First was a door which was, much to her relief, unguarded. When she opened that she saw him in a giant cage, with metal bars as thick as tree trunks.

"Who are you?" His familiar grating voice put her back on track.

"Your future daughter in law. Your worst nightmare. One and the same," She tried to focus on the bars. How would she get through them?

"Mai?" He sounded rather confused.

Mai? Why would he… oh yeah. Wait! That was it! Smiling, she took some water from the pouch at her hip and sliced it through the bar. It was a bit harder without Aang there on the other side, but she only needed to break one.

He frowned, "You're not Mai… what are you doing? Are you rescuing me? Who are you?"

She clenched her teeth and continued sawing on the bar. Eventually he fell silent and simply watched her. Once she had gotten it more than halfway through she aimed a heavy kick at it, and it split in two.

"I can't slip through that! Maybe you can, but I'm a bit larger than you…" He trailed off as she came closer to him; putting her face up to his

"I'm not going to rescue you, idiot. You ruined my fiancé's life. Though he won't admit it, naturally. You ruined a lot of people's lives. You indirectly killed my mother. And you are the only thing standing between me and a nice happy life. So why would I rescue you? "

"Oh… wait… no, you're not going to…" He shook his head, dark eyes wide in fear.

She slipped a knife out of her sleeve, "Yes, Ozai. I am."

"No, I'll… I'll give you money… don't…" He stopped, apparently speechless with fear.

"You are pathetic," She rolled her eyes.

Despite her words, she was shaking. She didn't know if she could do this. She was almost certain she couldn't. She'd never killed anyone, not directly at least.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Visions of her mother and Yue flew into her mind. These were people who she had been close to, killed by the Fire Nation. She thought of the story Zuko had told her, of the little Earth Kingdom boy whose brother had been in the war. She let Zuko's face flood her vision. This was for him.

Love would make you do crazy things, they said, and they were right.

She opened her eyes and let them find Ozai's. Emptying her mind of everything except Zuko, she plunged the knife in.

"My name is Katara. Katara," she gasped, and then collapsed on the ground, sobbing.

* * *

"It is done. He is dead, and the note for Aang is there too. I used a knife, and they won't be able to tell how I put the guard to sleep or cut the bar. Only Aang will know it was me. We can go, Zuko." She fled into his arms, knowing that he was the only thing holding her up right now.

"Thank you. I… I am a coward. A horrible person to make you do that."

"You didn't make me do anything. It was my choice. We know what he would have done if he was still alive when we left. No one believed us."

"I was the Fire Lord! I could have had him executed! But I was too scared… too scared of what Aang would think, too scared it would make me like him, my father."

"Zuko! You will never be like him. He killed innocent people, for no reason. I killed him, who has the blood of thousands on his head, to save this nation. There is no comparison."

The young man sighed, a sigh heavy with emotion.

"Thank you again."

"Of course. Now, you left a note for Iroh? It is settled?"

"Yes. Sweetness, are you sure you want to do this? Will Aang be alright?"

"He'll make it. Toph is there to help him. He doesn't know it, but she loves him."

"What about your family?"

"We'll see them again, I know it. I want to go with you, Zuko."

"I want you to come with me too. I have the maps, I have the information Ozai gave me. We should find her soon. Then we can come back, can stop running from my responsibilities."

She put her cool hand on his face and kissed him softly

"Zuko, you're not running. You're doing something that is important to you, something that must be done."

"I love you"

"I love you too. Now come on, where are we headed?"

"To the Fire Sage's temple first of all. We're going to get married, Lady Katara!"

She grinned, "I can't wait."

* * *

"Avatar, this note was found on the body"

Aang turned his attention from the calamity in front of him to the Captain speaking at his shoulder.

The envelope simply said 'Avatar Aang', but he recognized the handwriting. Not wanting to expose the tears that had suddenly sprung to his eyes, he turned away.

"Thank you. Just get rid of his body, and don't speak of this. The people can continue to think he is imprisoned. I don't know how they would take it. Tell your men I will personally punish them if they leak the news."

The Captain nodded nervously. He may be taking orders from a boy, but he would follow them. This was the Avatar and the Avatar's word was law.

"Good luck," Aang nodded goodbye to the Captain, then flew away on his glider.

Only when he was in the privacy of his own room did he open the note.

"_Dear Aang,_

_I am so very deeply sorry. I… I have no choice._

_Ozai was planning to overthrow you and Zuko, and restart the war. He had to die. Please don't tell anyone I killed him. I would like to come back to the Fire Nation someday._

_I am with Zuko. We have… well I suppose we eloped. Please, please, please don't be hurt by this. I love you Aang, just not that way. I am so sorry._

_We have gone to find his mother. When we find her we'll come back, but not before then. It is something that must be done._

_Tell Toph and Sokka and Suki we will miss them. We'll see them eventually though. Iroh is in charge while we are gone. Zuko left him a note too. _

_Please don't do anything crazy Aang. The world needs you. Let Toph help you, she is very smart. Please._

_I will miss you._

_Love,_

_Katara"_

Aang winced at the sobs that racked his body. When he heard the door open he tried to stop, but it was useless.

"Twinkletoes! What's wrong?" Toph rushed over to him worriedly and he handed her the note, "Aang, I can't read this. Sorry."

He groaned, "No, I'm sorry. Katara's gone, Toph. She eloped with Zuko, and they're going to find his mom. She… she killed Ozai. I don't… I don't even know if I love her anymore. But if I don't, then why am I so sad?"

Toph sighed and hugged the crying avatar, "Things never make sense, twinkletoes. Things never make sense."

* * *

OK – so I was gonna post my A/N on here, but it was really long. So, you'll have to go to

- i-amawriterDOTblogspotDOTcom/2010/04/hishe-authors-noteDOThtml (replace DOT with .)

:)


	3. A Good Fight

_A hundred years has passed since Sozin's Comet, and Avatar Aang's defeat of the Phoenix King Ozai. Avatar Aang has died and a new Avatar has been born in the Northern Water Tribe. He has just come of age and been told of his destiny. _

_Now ambassadors from the other three nations are on their way to the Northern Water Tribe to meet the new avatar and discuss his training. These ambassadors are;_

_Zia, 17, daughter of Fire Lord Kazin and Fire Lady Zeyla, great granddaughter of Fire Lord Zuko and Fire Lady Katara – a firebending master, Princess of the Fire Nation, and it's ambassador._

_Tang, 14, daughter of Earth King Thom and Earth Queen Eleyna, great granddaughter of Earth Queen Toph and Earth King Teo – an earthbending master, Princess of the Earth Kingdom, and it's ambassador_

_Ansayto, 16, son of Monk Gonsa and Nun Yaen, great grandson of Avatar Aang and Lady Meng – an airbending master, and the Air Nomads' ambassador. _

_Our story begins on the last leg of their journey:

* * *

_

"I want to thank you, Captain, for indulging my diet during this trip. It means a lot that you recognize my beliefs," Ansayto smiled gratefully at the weather-beaten man.

"Well, you are an ambassador. Didn't have much choice in the matter. Plus, everyone knows you Air Nomads eat only veggies," the Captain shook his head, confused, "Not even fish. Crazy, crazy people."

"So, how much longer until we are there?" Zia bit her lip when she realized she was doing it again. Being jealous, having to be the center of attention. It was selfish and arrogant of her and she hated it, but she did it automatically. Although no-one ever noticed.

"We should get there sometime tomorrow afternoon, if the weather holds up." The captain yawned, "Speaking of tomorrow, let's get to bed so we can get there!" He smiled his grizzled smile that was so familiar to them all and walked out.

"Goodnight all," Tang stretched, "Not that I'll sleep. I hate this ship."

"It is rather stifling, is it not? Ah, well, goodnight ladies," Ansayto nodded politely, then jumped on his glider and flew up to the crow's nest, where he slept.

"Rather stiff isn't he?" Tang shrugged, "If he would just loosen up a little I think I'd like him a lot more."

"Oh well, Tang. We can't get along with everyone. Come on, I really am exhausted." Zia smiled and gave Tang a quick shoulder hug before slipping down the hall to her own room.

* * *

"Good morning Lady Zia! How are you on this fine morning?" The sailor, Lien was his name, was smiling rather brightly for how early it was.

"Rather well, thank you Lien. It is a bit early for all this activity though, is it not?" She wasn't exactly sure if Lien was just a nice person, or if he… er… liked her, but she had been taught to be responsive and polite no matter what.

"The Captain spotted a ship with the Southern Raiders flag about an hour ago. So far they haven't moved, but they are right in our path. We're just making sure we don't get caught unawares. Southern Raiders are known to be ornery." Suddenly his face lit up, and she could practically see the lantern above his head, "Hey, you're Fire Nation! Do you know why they're here? It isn't really their territory… being the north and all."

She inwardly rolled her eyes, but she responded politely yet again. Ah, the life of an ambassador.

"I do not know what they are doing here. Last I heard they were supposed to be patrolling the southern edge of the islands, keeping watch for pirates, that sort of thing." Zia shrugged, "They have no reason to be here. This is not even Fire Nation Territory."

Lien nodded, "I know! That's the worst. Some of the men say that they've heard in the taverns that the raiders went rouge. Got a few earth and water bending friends and started raiding again. Basically, became pirates."

Zia frowned, "Surely my father would have heard of this and notified me? This could cause trouble."

"I dunno. Perhaps he tried. Messages can be faulty on the sea. Or maybe the raiders are here for a purpose!"

"It is possible. Thank you for informing me, Lien. I am sure I will see you later."

He nodded, still smiling as always.

Zia went up to the second crow's nest, the one that wasn't occupied by Ansayto, with her spyglass. She found the raiders and surveyed their ship. From what she could see, it seemed normal. She only saw Fire Nation uniforms and normal ship routines. Nothing special or different. She frowned… what on fire where they doing here? These were Northern Water Tribe waters… the Southern Raiders presence here could be interpreted as an act of war, or at least a severe insult.

And she would be the one to have to face it, deal with the outcome.

She sighed. All her life she had been accustomed to this responsibility. She was the only heir, the future Fire Lady, ruler of the Fire Nation. She was passionate and strong, controlling and stubborn. But she had Water Tribe ancestry too. Sometimes she felt like flowing, like sitting back and letting life control her… simply not worrying about it. Not worrying that one simple sentence that came out of her mouth could change the course of her nation's progress. Not worrying that someone was going to come kill her, just because she was who she was.

She was only seventeen and already she was worn out.

She was a fierce bender, able to bend lightning. She was also rather good with broadswords and hand-to-hand, something that had served her well in her life. She was an amazing fighter. She was also rather good with words, good at scheming, at trapping people cleverly, though she never used the talent too harshly.

She had been compared to her great great aunt Azula. Cunning and fierce, a practical prodigy.

Yet she hated every minute of it. She slacked off; she failed at seemingly simple tasks. Sometimes she wished she could run away and become a waterbender in the southern water tribe. She had heard stories that her great grandma Katara had passed down. Stories of a simple life, where they worried if they would have enough food for the winter, if they would marry the right man, if they would have a smart, healthy children. Simple, standard worries of life.

It wasn't so much that she hated being a firebender. She loved bending, the power she felt. She loved fighting and the adrenaline rush she got from it.

It was the politics she hated. Sometimes she just wanted to burn the whole council room. They sat for hours, talking in circles. It gave her a headache and a stomachache. She loathed having to watch every single thing she said, to make sure it couldn't be taken the wrong way. She absolutely despised having to settle things with words, words that ended them up nowhere. Sometimes she just wanted an Agni Kai. A good fight would settle most anything.

She watched the sunrise with tears coming from her eyes. This was a normal morning in her life. A morning begun by sorrow and annoyance. Why on fire couldn't she just be happy with what she had, for goodness sake?

Suddenly she had an idea. It would require Tang, who wouldn't wake up for an hour or so, so she had time to refine the details.

This time she wouldn't try to patch a hole in a dam with a piece of cloth.

This time she would knock it down and build a whole new one.

* * *

"Well, look who's up! How do you do it? You are always up before me!" Tang shook her head incredulously

"Tang, it's the sun. I rise with the sun. Firebender, remember?" Zia laughed

"Oh, yes. Well, I am never waking up that early, so get used to it I guess."

"I am"

"Oh, ok… so, why all the activity?" Tang looked around, confused.

"I'll tell you all about it… follow me, let's go up to the second crow's nest"

* * *

"So, you really think that'll work?"

"No. That's the point. We'll kill them, Tang. Or, at least, sabotage their ship."

"But how do we know what to do?"

"Oh, all Fire Nation ships are similar. I know where to hit."

"Ok. What if the plan goes awry? What if we don't have all the info?"

"We're screwed," Zia grinned, "C'mon, don't tell me you're not up for a fight!"

"I am, I am! I'm just making sure we're not going into a den of wolfbats!" Tang crossed her arms and gave Zia a pointed gaze.

"Alright! Thanks for your concern! Now come on, we'll be upon those raiders soon, we need to go."

"Um, shouldn't we get Ansayto? He is an ambassador too!"

Zia winced, "Uh… right… one moment."

She bent fire under her feet, allowing her to shoot from one crow's nest to the other.

"Ansayto? Ansayto, we're going to go talk to the Southern Raiders. I guess you don't want to come."

She bent herself back to Tang.

"He was sleeping. He didn't wake up. I told him."

Tang grinned, "Right, got it! Okeedoke. You do know how to work those lifeboats, right?"

"Of course"

* * *

"Here we are. Be sure to tie that lifeboat securely, we don't want our escape to be ruined."

"I know," Tang tied the rope tight, and then bent the metal of the ladder around it.

"So, do all ships have this ladder permanently down? Seems rather stupid to me." Tang followed Zia up it

"Yep, it's so that anyone who falls overboard in battle can get back up without anyone else having to help. I agree it has its flaws. But it works, I suppose."

"Indeed."

"So, can all earthbenders metalbend like that?"

"Nope, just the royal family. My great great Grandma Toph was the first to ever metalbend. Since then we've improved the technique so we can do it without touching the metal."

"Neat!"

"Yup. Can we focus on the mission now?" Tang smiled, again pointedly

"Oh, sorry. Follow me, this way to the captain's quarters." Zia returned the smile, but hers was nervous.

"HEY! You there! Who are you and what are you doing on this ship?" It was a gruff male yell that stopped them in their tracks.

Zia froze and turned around slowly to meet the gaze of a Southern Raider.

"Oh, hello sir!" She stood up straight and smoothed down her robes, "I am Fire Princess Zia, ambassador of the Fire Nation, and this is my friend Earth Princess Tang, ambassador of the Earth Kingdom. We've come to speak to your captain!"

"Excuse me?" The man raised his eyebrows

"Um, well, we were just uncertain as to why you were in Northern Water Tribe waters, so we came to… er… discuss it with your captain."

A rather evil smirk came over the man's face, "I see. I see completely. So, you're both princesses and ambassadors? Wonder what kind of ransom you'd fetch."

Zia sighed, "Look, we really didn't want to hurt you. We wanted this to be diplomatic! But, as I'm sure you know, we are both bending masters, and we are capable of wounding you. Severely." She assumed her own smirk

"Well well well, if it isn't a little Azula. I knew your great aunt, you know. When I was a teenager I was assigned to guard duty at her asylum. Interesting woman." He cackled, "You threaten just like her."

"I get that a lot. In fact, I'm rather tired of hearing it. Tang, we're on."

The young earthbender grinned and nodded. Zia dropped into a squat and stuck her palms out, shooting streams of fire. Above her head, Tang grabbed chunks of metal from whatever was around, fashioned them into knives, and shot them at the man and the other raiders that were starting to come up.

"Zia, there are too many! Wolfbats, Zia, Wolfbats!"

"Ok, let's go. Follow me!" Zia rushed toward the ladder. She shot fire at anyone who came close, and fielded other's blasts.

"Zia, hurry! Even more are coming!" Tang bit her lip and continued bending knives

"I'm trying!" They reached the ladder and Zia stepped to the side to let Tang go down first. Once the earth princess got far enough down, Zia grabbed the top of the ladder, swung out, and shot one blast of fire out of her feet. Suddenly her feet felt heavy and they were falling to the floor. She looked down and saw that they were encased in rock. Below her Tang was cursing.

"They've got earthbenders. They pinned me to the ladder," Tang yelled in frustration.

Zia winced as the first man walked up to her, smirk still plastered on his face.

"I am the captain, young lady. You've spoken to me. And I've decided that your offer just isn't worth it." He turned to the earthbender and waterbender behind him, "Take them to the cells at the bottom. I'll go talk to them later."

The benders nodded, and pulled the girls up roughly, leading them through a maze of hallways before throwing them in a dank cell wordlessly.

* * *

"Soooo… now what? Got a master plan for this one?" Tang voice was biting

"That was fantastic! Wow! I haven't fought like that in forever!" Zia examined her hands for wounds

"Really? That's all you've got." Tang rolled her eyes and went to inspect the door

"I can't believe how good that felt! That was completely amazing!" Zia was now checking her outfit for rips or burns

"Well these guys are complete idiots. This entire door is metal. Come on, little miss cactus juice." Tang bent the door away

"I didn't drink anything, I swear! I just fought and it felt awesome!"

"Whatever," Tang grabbed Zia's hand and led her through the hallways, "Hey Zia, I need you to concentrate now. We need to sabotage this. Where is the engine?"

"Oh, right. That. Follow me."

"As always," Tang smiled to show she wasn't being mean.

* * *

"I guess that was fun." Tang grinned, looking back at the rapidly shrinking ship

"It would be a lot easier to get back if I was a waterbender," Zia sighed

"But you wouldn't be you!" Tang smiled and gave Zia a rare hug, "I'm glad you're a firebender, Zia."

"Well, thanks!"

"Here we are. Think anyone noticed we were missing?" Tang tied the boat up

"I hope not. They'll notice something whenever that ship goes off."

"Yep!" Tang giggled

"And where have you two been? The Captain asked for us thirty minutes ago!" Ansayto was there, looking over the side of the boat, down the ladder at them.

"I bet he just loves being able to look down on us," Tang muttered, causing Zia to laugh outright

"I do not see what is so funny! It isn't proper to be late!"

"I know, I'm sorry. I just… er… heard something!" Zia smiled hopefully, but Ansayto's frown merely deepened as he gave her a hand up.

"I hope you don't plan on continuing this behavior," He droned

"Now look, Ansayto, don't try that 'holier than thou' mess. I am older than you, and of higher rank. You have absolutely no power over me, except for the fact that I was taught to be polite and respectful, and you are my fellow ambassador. So please don't push me over the edge. Tang and I just saved your little peaceful skin." Zia was rather out of breath after her outburst

The Air Nomad blanched, "I… I didn't mean… I…"

Zia put a hand on his shoulder comfortingly, "I know. You don't mean any harm. Just lighten up, ok? We're kids; we don't have to be perfect. Avatar Aang wasn't, from what I hear. We just do our best and hope that it suffices. And if it doesn't, we get over it and try again. Ok?"

"Nice!" Tang gave a 'thumbs up.'

"Uh… ok," replied Ansayto uncertainly

"Now how about a smile?" Zia offered one of her own

He made a comical attempt at a smile which sent Tang into a fit of laughter.

"It was close!" Zia kept hers on, and his got better.

Then a massive explosion sent waves that rocked the ship, and his smiled disappeared. He instead opted for a shocked look. All three of them looked in the direction of the Southern Raiders' ship, which was now a flaming mass.

"You… you…"

"Saved. Your. Skin," Zia repeated

"But…"

"Your skin."

He walked off shaking his head, and the princesses exchanged a grin and a high five before following him.

* * *

Another super long author's note! :D

~ i-amawriterDOTblogspotDOTcom/2010/04/good-fightDOThtml


	4. I Am Zutara

My favorite color is purple

The Fire Sages have an explanation for this. They have an explanation for every aspect of my life. They find my parents' union extremely interesting.

Sometimes I want to say my favorite color is green or orange, just to stump them.

But it's not. It's purple.

My eyes are topaz, and my hair is black.

I can tell this hurts my mom. She has never said anything, but every time someone says anything about how much I look like my father she gets this look. It isn't a good look.

But I can't change. My eyes are still topaz, and my hair is still black, no matter how much I pray.

I can waterbend.

This hurts my father. He is the same as my mom, silent and accepting, but it hurts him. Every time I heal someone or have to miss something because of waterbending practice, he winces.

I love waterbending.

I am quiet and shy.

My father insists that this will not help me in life, but he doesn't force me to speak. He is kind about it. My mother doesn't understand it. She insists that I have an easy life, and I should have no reason to hide.

I simply am scared of what will happen when I speak.

I am a princess.

This hasn't helped my social life. People just want to be my friend because it will help their place in life. It is one reason I'm so shy. People always lie to me. Always. It's the only thing I can't change, or do anything about…

Even though I am a princess.

I am seventeen.

By all rights, I should be engaged. But my parents don't hold with arranged betrothal, and I have the same problem with suitors that I have with friends. They're all liars. It's horrible. I like people… but it seems like the man I like is the only one who doesn't like me back.

The trials of being seventeen

I am conniving

My Great Uncle sometimes calls me Azula, when I'm attempting to dupe him. He says I'm not mean like her, though. I just have her good manipulation skills.

It is handy, being conniving.

I am done.

I will not listen to the Fire Sages and their psychoanalysis any more.

I won't worry about disappointing my parents.

I will stop hiding and scream and speak like I truly want to.

I'll start trusting people more.

I will finally talk to him about my feelings.

I will use my skills for the good of my country, my people.

I will be myself.

I will be Zutara, the child my parents named after themselves, the daughter they love and support.

The future leader of the Fire Nation

I am done.


	5. The Tale of Kya

_This is a companion to my story, 'Shila'. It doesn't *exactly* contain spoilers, but you'll probably understand it more if you read Shila! It can be read as a standalone, though! :) _

* * *

Kya stalked through the marketplace, annoyed to no end. Everyone else was out having fun, enjoying a day off and what was she doing? She was forced to sell all of their (well, mainly Sokka's) old unused stuff, so they could have a plentiful supply of money. She didn't understand why it was her who was forced to do this. She would much rather have gone to the spa with Katara and Toph, or gone looking for Appa with Aang. Heck, she would even rather have roamed around aimlessly with Sokka. But no, she just *had* to take this time to take care of this junk. Who on earth would ever buy a Kyoshi warrior figurine, or a 'rare jade belt' that was really just costume jewelry on cheap cloth? She could already tell this would be an all day job.

* * *

"But sir, it's only two earth kingdom coins! This is the best bargain I have ever offered! You must be crazy to pass this up!" Kya put on her most honest smile and pushed the 'rare desert vase' towards the skeptical merchant.

"I don't know…"

"Please, sir! I don't want you to regret missing this!"

"Well… I guess… it is a nice looking vase, and not very expensive." He reached behind the counter of his stall and pulled out a money pouch

"Thank you! You'll love the vase!" Kya took his coins and gave him the vase gratefully. One more had gone, just a few left to go.

She had found that she actually enjoyed the marketplace, though she didn't like selling. She liked the bustling-ness, the sights and smells. She even liked the noise. It made her feel happy and full, like she was at a party.

She crossed a bridge, her head full of daydreams about the market, and nearly fell into the river. She stopped herself just in time by bending a little ice platform.

"What on earth… oh. Exactly." The bridge had a perfect hole in it. This screamed of Toph, but of course they were in earthbender country now. Anyone could have done this. She sighed… they really needed to be more careful! Frowning, she covered the hole in ice. Perhaps it wasn't the safest thing, but it was definitely safer than a giant hole.

She walked on, smiling at her good deed.

"Miss, you selling that bag?" A greasy looking man came up and pulled out five coins, "I'll buy it!"

"Well actually…" Sokka had let her use the bag to carry the stuff she _was_ selling. Technically it was his, and he didn't say she could sell it. But five coins… that was more than he had paid for it new.

"I'll pay seven!" He pulled two more coins out of the pouch on his belt and waved them in front of her face

"I'm really sorry… I can't. Here, how about this belt?" Kya pulled the flashy belt out of the bag and held it up, smiling as big as she could.

"Er… ok!" The man handed her the coins and took the belt, walking off whistling.

"Strange…" She shook her head and continued on. She passed by a basket shop, and heard a customer say,

"No, it's not a romantic picnic. But it is a special occasion!"

That voice… with a quick gasp she turned back around to see the man, but he was gone. She then heard him again,

"The moonflower likes partial shade!" He had simply walked down the way a few steps

"Iroh," She practically whispered. She longed so much for it not to be him.

"Yes? Er… I mean… sorry, I uh… um… my name is Mooshy… er…" he ran off.

Frowning in annoyance and confusion, she walked towards another stall,

"I have a rare wooden sword here for sale… er… I'm sure it would sell well in your shop." She grinned pleadingly

The stall owner raised his eyebrows, "A wooden sword? Are you kidding me? Those aren't rare in the least!"

"Er… well…"

"Sorry, but you won't find any bargain here!"

Sighing heavily she walked away, swinging the sword beside her. Why oh WHY was she relegated to this task?

She had lost heart. Perhaps she would just keep the training sword. It was her last item.

And she had to tell the others about seeing Iroh. If he was there then Zuko surely wasn't far behind. Which meant that their stay might have to be cut short. Curse that stupid fire prince.

Suddenly the creepy man from before, who had bought the belt, sprang out from an alleyway. He brandished a knife and said, "Give me the money!"

She surveyed him haughtily. He was wobbling, the hand with the knife was shaking, and his upper lip was sweating profusely

"What if I don't?"

"I… I'll stab you!" His voice cracked slightly and she rolled her eyes

"I don't think so, buddy. Next time try someone a little more stupid." She swung the wooden sword up and knocked the knife out of his hand, which made him collapse into a heap on the ground. She walked away feeling the slightest bit sorry for him, but not enough to go back. It was his fault that he had been so dumb.

All of a sudden Iroh sprang out from behind the corner of the building, running at full speed. He slipped into an alley and she went in behind him.

She slammed him against the wall, "Hello granpa. Why didn't you acknowledge me when I called your name? Ok, stupid question…" She frowned, "More importantly, where is Zuko!"

Iroh frowned back angrily, "Back in our living space, hopefully! Serving tea to our patrons right about now, I should hope!"

"Right, right. And how soon do you think he will find us? Attack us?"

"Please! He's given that up, for now at least. We're just trying to live in peace!"

She let him down from the wall, because his words dripped with honesty

"So, you swear you're not going to attack us?"

"Promise! On my honor!"

"Like that really means anything." She rolled her eyes

He sighed, "Kya, right?"

She nodded, slightly impressed at his memory

"I would have thought that you would have figured out by now that honor means everything in the Fire Nation. Everything."

She nodded again, rather chastised.

"Now, perhaps it would be best if you didn't tell your friends about this little encounter?" He laughed nervously

"Perhaps…" She saw his line of reasoning.

"So long, Kya."

"Goodbye Iroh. Hopefully I won't see you again. Of course I mean that in the best way!" She smiled genuinely and he shot one back. Then she saw something out of the corner of her eye, "Wait!"

"Yes?"

"This amateur mugger is about to come… want me to take him out for you?"

Iroh sighed, "No, let me speak to him. I can take care of myself, young lady!"

"Right. Well, uh… goodbye again!"

He nodded his farewell, accompanying it with a nice smile.

* * *

"So, you haven't found even a trace of him?"

"No. I made a cool zoo! But… uh… it has a few problems…" Aang laughed nervously, "Anyway. Did you have any luck selling things?"

"Yeah. Sold everything except this sword. Darn thing." Kya sighed, something she'd done a lot today

"That's great!"

"Yep," She shrugged, "So where are you off to?"

"More looking!" He smiled, "Nice seeing you!"

"You too!" she waved as he leapt onto his glider

Crazy kid. Poor thing, actually. Appa was his companion… he really, really missed the beast.

Oh well. She had to sell this darn sword. Or at least try to.

Perhaps she could get dinner first! It was starting to get dark, and she was starting to get hungry. She had passed a few restaurants… there seemed to be plenty. In fact, it looked like one was just up ahead! She quickened her pace and reached the door in record time.

"I would much appreciate a table, sir!" She smiled at the man by the door

"Follow me!" he bowed and started navigating through the tables.

Fast service! Nice! She followed him, grinning all the way. That was, until she caught sight of a couple at one of the tables.

That darn scar was unmistakable.

"You know what, on second thought… I'm not really hungry. Thanks though!" She smiled at the man uneasily and dashed out of the restaurant.

Seeing Iroh was bad enough. She couldn't face Zuko too.

Still hungry, she continued walking down the main street. At least the city was pretty. It had that going for it.

She jumped when the door of a large building she was passing flew open, and a body hurled through it.

The unfortunate person landed right in front of her and sat up, frowning while looking back at the building.

"Poetry," he sighed

"Sokka?" She laughed, "What happened to you?"

"You don't wanna know."

She raised her eyebrows and helped him up.

"Ok. I tried to um… beat the leader of the five-seven-five society. And I… uh… failed."

She laughed slightly, "Oh, that would have been fun to watch!" She brushed a bit of dust off of his shoulder, "Sorry about the unfortunate ending though."

He shrugged, "It was fun while it lasted!"

"I was about to go get dinner… want to join me?" She smiled kindly

"Sure! I'm famished!" He grinned and looped his arm through hers, "So, how was your day?"

"Well… pretty good, actually."

Pretty good, She thought, smiling to herself.

* * *

_(A/N) - This goes along with Shila! :) it is the Tale of Kya! Meant to fit in with the Tales of Ba Sing Se episode. _

_She encounters everyone but momo! Well, she only sees Toph and Katara's aftermath ;) _

_Really, I think the tales of ba sing se happened on different days… in fact I am sure of it. But for the purpose of this story they all happened at once ;D _

_I love this! Truly, I do. My favorite part is the end, naturally! The sokkya-ness is so awesome! :)_

_I'm outta here y'all, peace!_

_;D_

_~LS_


	6. Escape l from life l

Lightning flashed through the sky and the girl smiled slightly. So apropos. She waited for the thunder, in order to cover the sound of her footsteps. Her tiny smile broke into a full on grin as she slipped out the door and the wind slapped her in the face, blowing her ragged bangs and making her squint her eyes. She let out a wild laugh, reveling in the freedom, the fresh air. She let the rain fall on her for a while, allowing herself to get thoroughly soaked before walking on to the stable.

"Can I help you?" The guard at the door lifted his lantern and his spear.

"No. Not really," She cackled

"You need to leave. Wait –" He saw her prison uniform and his face grew fiery, "ESCAPEE!"

"Oh, dear. You really shouldn't have done that." She grinned again and looked expectantly up to the sky. A bolt of lightning split across it, then suddenly came down and struck the guard.

She sighed, "Poor dear. It would have been so much easier if you had just let me go."

She pulled the heavy stable door open with a slight grunt, letting it fall shut behind her, and she lit a small blue flame in her palm to light the way. She found her way to a Komodo Rhino's stall and slipped a bridle on his head. When he struggled she put the flame close to his shoulder, letting it singe his thick skin. He snorted, but stood still. She laughed again, happy at the ugly beast's misfortune. As soon as she'd gotten the bridle all set she slipped onto his back.

"Giddyup!" She slapped his side, her hand hot. The rhino shot forward, through the stall door and through the stable door.

They galloped across the volcano, up toward the palace city.

Azula had an old friend to visit.

* * *

The other girl rolled the knife around, passing it from hand to hand. She contemplated her life. What was the point of it? She thought of her childhood, her time at the Fire Academy for girls. It had been useless, boring. She had learned things like math and language… supposedly useful things. She had also learned how to curtsy properly, serve tea correctly, and do her makeup. Though she did it a bit more heavily than the other girls. None of these things had really served her, in anything. She was fifteen and she wasn't betrothed. She didn't even have a boyfriend.

She'd been in a wonderful relationship. She had loved Zuko. Really, truly loved him. She hadn't wanted to tell him; not outright. Surely an outburst like that would push someone away? She'd loved him all her life, it felt like, but she didn't know how to tell him. And then… he'd just left. Joined that little kid, the Avatar. And THEN she'd saved his life. His _life!_ But he hadn't done anything for her.

He'd left her. He had actually married that disgusting waterbender.

She had betrayed her best friend, gotten thrown in jail, and he'd married that stupid hussy.

Why even bother? Everything in her life went wrong.

Her parents loved her little brother more. They had actually said so.

Her boyfriend had left her for a water peasant

Her best friends had left her, one to an asylum and one to the Kyoshis

Perhaps the only thing that she had ever done that she was proud of was learning knife and senbon throwing. She turned her attention back to the knife in her hands, sliding her fingers gingerly over the sharp edge of the blade. She smiled mirthlessly, reveling in the power behind that thin piece of metal. Knives were her life. Truly, her senbon needles were her life. She pulled a few needles from her sleeve and threw them at the piece of parchment on her wall. It was a letter, left for her from Zuko, and she hated it.

She didn't want to live anymore. Every day it was a struggle to get out of bed. A struggle to put her robes on, to do her hair and makeup. She had no one who loved her, no one who cared. She had no point in life, except to roam the city hoping to find a husband. Her parents didn't care enough to set up a match.

She threw the knife at the parchment, hoping that would stop the insane urge she was feeling

She pulled another from her belt, and decided that perhaps the urge wasn't so insane anyway. What was the point of living, truly? The spirit world was said to be wonderful. Much better than this hell on earth.

She took a deep breath, thought over her life once more.

She plunged the knife desperately into her heart. As she fell to her knees she thought she saw a face. Greasy hair, uneven bangs. Eyes that looked slightly off, sardonic smirk.

"Azula?" She gasped it out, pain completely obvious.

"Mai? What have you done? Mai, you didn't…" Azula's mouth dropped and her smirk disappeared, "Mai, please… oh my word… Mai! No, please, don't… no…"

Mai laughed, a laugh that quickly turned into bloody cough, "You went insane. What else was I supposed to do? I failed you as a friend, Ty Lee and Zuko left me. Nobody likes me, Azula. The spirit world will be much better… shame you had to see this though. Goodbye, 'Zula." Her eyes glazed slowly over and her breaths became shorter and farther apart as the life ebbed out of her.

Azula fell onto her knees, sobs racking her body. This was something she had never, ever planned for. Mai was her best friend. Mai was all she had left. Mai couldn't… die. Azula sat there, crying, by Mai's body. She was oblivious to the world around her. She said nothing when Zuko came in, when he exclaimed at the extraordinary sight. She said nothing when he lifted her gently and held her against him, when the soldiers took Mai's body away. She said nothing when Zuko quietly led her to a windowless room and locked the door.

She said nothing when she was admitted back into the asylum. Mai's death had been something she wasn't prepared for. Princess Azula, the girl who thought of everything and duly prepared for it, she had been shocked and surprised by this.

Perhaps she really truly _was_ insane.

She didn't really care. All she wanted was to mourn in peace. Simple, quiet peace.


	7. Shipping Wars

_Quick disclaimer: The following belongs to Nickelodeon, mike, and bryan. I didn't write it, just substituted names and stuff _

"Zutara

Kataang

Tang

Maiko

Long ago the four ships lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Zutarians attacked. Only the creators, masters of all four ships, could stop them. But when the world needed them most… they vanished.

[over] One hundred days passed and the world discovered a new creator, a director named M. Night. Although his directing skills are great, he still has a lot to learn before he can correctly produce a The Last Airbender movie.

But I believe, M. Night can save Zutara."

_HAHAH sorry, just had to get this out of my system. Yeah, I am a rabid zutarian, but let's face it, they're the aggressive ones. Kataangers are all 'ooh, let's be kataang because aang is so cute and vegetarian and against killing things' and Zutarians are all 'OMG ZUTARA IS THE BEST, SEE THE ZUTARIAN LIGHT! SEE IT, GOSH DARN IT!'_

_:D _

_Yes, and, M Night could save Zutara… oh please! Haha :D _


	8. Suinnak Shila chapter three

_This is the first edition of the third chapter of Shila. I decided to rewrite it, but I wanted to give you the option of reading the old one! Here is is :) _

* * *

The camp was set up rather quickly and I sat back against Appa to continue planning.

I got re-engaged in my thoughts and day dreams (I did that quite a bit) and was, yet again, oblivious to the outside world and its comings and goings.

I was so entranced that I missed Katara coming back with not firewood, but two firebenders. And ones we had met before. So occupied in my own musings was I that it took another shout from Katara to wake me up

Déjà vu. That girl sure did have a piercing voice, when she wanted to.

This time she was asking me for help. As soon as I got up and walked over to her I realized the situation.

She was leaning over the prone form of none other than that traitor Prince Zuko. And General Iroh, his much kinder uncle, was standing behind her.

"What… why… Katara, did you bring him here?" I was sputtering, I admit. It really wasn't one of my finer moments. I was just so _confused_!

She gave me a calm look. "Yes I did bring him here. I had no choice. Look," she moved back and revealed at large gaping wound in Zuko's gut.

Nasty.

"Ok. So you want me to help you heal him?" At least that was clear enough. She nodded and pointed to the water jug. Understanding her gesture I bent water onto my hand and covered Zuko's wound with it. She followed suit and soon we had him nearly healed. We couldn't fully heal him, but we could get him started.

As soon as we pulled our hands away his eyelids fluttered open.

"Katara?" his voice was weak, but he still attempted to sit up.

"No, don't." Katara pushed him back down gently. "You need to rest. I'm here"

"I…" He didn't seem to be able to finish the sentence.

She pushed the hair out of his face with great care, "Shh. I know." This was followed by a kiss on the forehead, and then she slipped her hand into his.

What! What was this… he betrayed us! I knew she… liked him, for lack of a better word, but this! This was as if nothing had ever happened between him and us. This was like they had known each other for years.

And I thought I was confused before.

I tapped her lightly on the shoulder and mouthed, 'what?'

She shook her head lightly and gave me a look that clearly said 'I'll explain later.'

It's always later.

At least I still had my planning to do

* * *

"All right Katara. Explain, and fast." We finally had a moment alone. As soon as the boys and Toph had gotten back from hunting (It was so productive. They got… a tiny bird. Simply wonderful, that trio. Please note the sarcasm.) it had been mayhem. They had interrogated us to the point where I nearly snapped their heads off. I had screamed that I didn't know anything, and stalked away. Meanwhile Katara had apologized and said I'd had a hard day (understatement of the week) and followed me. Now she was about to explain.

Or so I hoped.

My hope was justified.

"I… this wasn't the first time I'd seen Zuko."

"Naw, really? 'Cause, you know, I totally thought that evil people just woke up with the name of their mortal enemy on their lips. And then, I was sooo sure that the aforementioned mortal enemy was all 'lovey-dovey' with the aforementioned evil person. I mean, isn't that the way these things work?" It might have been the *slightest* bit over the top. I did feel bad when she winced.

"He's not evil."

Really? That was all she had to say?

"He betrayed us, Katara. He practically killed Aang. At least, he did indirectly. There is no doubt about it." I'll admit, he was good looking, even with the scar. But that was about his only good quality. And that was nothing to base a relationship on.

"He… he has had a change of heart."

"For what, the 5th time? When is he going to change back? How long will it last this time?" He deserved all of my criticism.

"No, for good this time. He is not changing sides again. Kya! Please, I thought I could at least confide in you!"

Guilt trip. Nice move. Now, I felt pretty awful. I had tried to be her confidant. Toph and I were the closest things she would have to best friends for a while. And I was just like her; a waterbender who had lost her family and had to leave her home. By all rights I _should _be her best friend. But then she had to go and pull a thing like this…

I realized she was looking at me expectantly, waiting for an answer to her exclamation I suppose.

"Fine. Tell me your story and then I will judge."

She nodded, "Thank you. Now… It started back in that village with the cabbages. I… I met Iroh when I was getting water. He told me about Zuko. Apparently," She had to take a breath to steel her for the next words.

"Apparently, Zuko defied Azula. It seems he couldn't bear to see Iroh in jail, so he broke the old general out, and they attempted to escape. But Azula caught them, and fought them. They managed to get away, but not before Zuko got that wound. Since then they had been staying on the outskirts of the Earth Kingdom. Then Iroh realized that I could heal Zuko so they came to find me."

"And they found you in the village with the cabbage guy." I finished. She'd said that already.

She nodded, "They found me there and Iroh took me to Zuko. I tried to heal him but… I couldn't do much. It seemed like every time I healed him he just got worse. I still don't understand it. I told Iroh I'd try again later, to keep up with us. I knew…" She took another breath. "I knew I couldn't bring them to camp. For all I knew they could be spies and Zuko's wound could be fake, somehow."

I nodded. Finally, she had been showing some sense.

"So, every time we set up camp I would go try to heal Zuko. And sometimes he would wake up and we would talk… and we… we're friends now." She looked at me, blushing faintly.

Yeah, friends. Friends who kissed each other's foreheads, and held hands.

Great friends there.

"So you mean, they have been following us since the cabbage village?" I didn't know what else to call it. "That's two weeks!"

She nodded, "I know. I had been able to keep Zuko's condition stable all that time, but when we set down today he was barely breathing. I knew I needed your help."

This was quite a bit to process. Still, only one question was left in my mind.

"Katara…" This was a bit embarrassing. "Do you… love that… Itigiaq?" Well, I'd said it!

She squirmed nervously.

"I… I really don't know." I could tell it was the truth.

Well. Bad day indeed.


	9. Learn to Love

He knew she was insane. He was reminded of it ten times a day, in the things people said or the way they looked at him. He didn't care. He still loved her. He's always love her, no matter what state of mental illness she was in.

"Azula? I brought you breakfast."

"Why do you keep coming? Why are you nice to me? Even Zuzu doesn't visit every day like you do. You bring me breakfast and you stay with me until I'm asleep so I don't have nightmares? Why do you do it?"

"I love you, Azula."

"I…" She seemed dumbfounded. "I don't know how to love, Sokka."

* * *

"Azula was particularly lucid this morning." Sokka took a giant bite of the roast duck his sister had put before him.

"That's good, I suppose." Katara cut herself a more delicate portion and transferred it to her plate.

"Very good!" He replied, but it was more like 'vowwygoo' because he was chewing.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," She said automatically. She took a small bite of her duck and swallowed before saying, "Why do you care for her so much?"

"I love her."

"You don't Sokka. How could you love her? She tried to kill us time upon time, she's inherently evil."

"Katara!" Sokka's face grew stormy, "How can you love Zuko? He tried to kill us time upon time! Some people say he's evil!"

"Zuko changed, Sokka. He helped… Aang." She sniffed slightly.

"Everyone changed, Kat," Sokka sighed, "No one was the same after the comet. Suki died, Aang died, all the white lotuses died, Toph disappeared. It's a dark time, Katara. We escaped by the skin of our teeth, and only thanks to the spirits. If they hadn't stepped in, inhabited Aang and killed Ozai, the world might be a very different place. As it is, Zuko isn't completely in control of his nation. Riots break out, skirmishes. It's a volatile world, Sweetness."

"But… that doesn't explain why you love her! She's still a monster!"

"If just one person had given her a chance, truly loved her with no reservations, don't you think she would have turned out differently? She needs someone to love her, no matter what. That someone is me, Katara."

"But…"

"Yue's dead. Suki's dead. Heck, even Toph is gone; I could have loved her! Azula's not going to disappear. She's not going to die. She's going to stay right here and get better, no matter what I do. You hurt when Aang died, didn't you? You loved him, right? And it hurt when Jet died, and when Haru died."

"Haru and I –"

"I don't care." Katara blinked at her brother's ferocity. This was different than anything she'd ever seen before. "Katara, you're all I have left. Every stinking person died in the war. From mom to dad, even Gran Gran. That stupid stupid bomb…" He put his head on his arms, duck forgotten.

"Sokka, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have attacked you like that. I had no right." She went over to him and put her arms under his, like she used to do when she was really little. "Carry me, 'ska?"

He lifted his head and smiled sadly at his sister, "I wish we were that little again. I wish we'd never grown up in this horrible world." He held her, hugging her tight. He wasn't lying when he'd said she was all he had left. Everyone had died in a bomb the Fire Lord had sent to the South Pole. One to the South, one to the North, and one to Ba Sing Se. Almost everyone he'd ever known or loved was dead.

"I'm going to marry him, Sokka. He needs my help." Katara sighed

"You'll be good for him. Good for this nation." Sokka smiled at his sister through his tears.

"I really am sorry. You can love Azula if you want. I am not one to stand in your way."

"You asked why I loved her. The answer is, she is an escape. Like I said before, she's someone who won't change. She won't die, she won't disappear. Out here… this world… it's horrific. People die every day, from aftereffects of the bombs, from riots. All those things. But when I visit her… it's like an oasis. It relaxes me, just being near her. In her room, none of this mess exists. None of the atrocity which makes up this world. Just her troubles and mine."

"That was poetic, Sokka." Katara brushed a stray tear from her cheek

"Thank you."

"Now eat your dinner, so you can go to her again." Katara pushed the duck back towards her brother."

"Thank you, Katara. I mean it."

"Anytime, Sokka. _I_ mean it."

* * *

"Hey 'Zula. How are you doing?"

"Hello Sokka. You're here again? Mother was just telling me she thinks you're respectable. I don't like respectability, you know that?"

"That seems to present a problem. See, I like you. I love you, in fact."

"Mother used to say that too, but it was a lie. She hated me. She thought I was a _monster_!" The girl started sniffling.

"It's ok Azula. Come on, let's get to bed, shall we? Then you won't have to hear your mother any more."

"I'll dream of her," She sighed. "Wait, I don't dream of her when you're here! You'll sit with me, right Sokka?"

"Of course."

He helped her under the covers, then he lay next to her.

She sniffed again, "Nobody has ever loved me, Sokka. Not my mother, or my father, or Uncle, or Zuzu, or even Mai and Ty Lee. They all were scared of me!" She started sobbing, and he put his arms around her gently.

"I love you, Zu."

"Are you scared of me, Sokka?" She looked up into his face, as if scared he would lie

"I'm not. Not at all."

"Hmm" She lay her head back on his chest. "Why do I never have nightmares if you are here?"

"I don't know."

"Sokka?"

"Yes?" He rested his chin on her hair

"Can you learn to love?"

"Yes, you can"

"I think I can learn to love you, Sokka."

"I know you can, Azula."

* * *

_A/N – GAH. Ok. So. FIRST THINGS FIRST. This was totally not my idea. Long, disclaiming back story here – so Sera and I were talking about Azokka (or Sokzula) a while ago and she was like, 'I read this great fic where Sokka was like caring for Azula in the asylum, like he visited her and stuff' (except she probably said it more eloquently :D) but she couldn't remember/didn't tell me the name of the fic. So I was just like, "oh, that sounds like a sweet fic' and then didn't think about it. Well then I started getting really Azokka (or Sokzula), it is definitely my fave crack pairing, and suddenly this fic popped into my mind. _

_SO this whole fic idea is so someone else's, and, if you read this someone else, I'm really sorry, no plagiarism was intended! This fic was just in my head and I had to get it out! It might be completely different and it might be the same! All I can say is GMTA or uh… GMTDifferently? Hahah. _

_Otherwise, yeah, this fic is depressing. But I like it. I either write way too happy or really depressing. I can't find a happy medium! Oh well. On that note, the comedic/more crack-esque ending of this is:_

"_I think I can learn to love you, Sokka_

"_I know you can, Azula"_

"_Sokka, what would you say if I said I faked being insane and got myself put in here just so you would feel pity for me and love me?"_

"_I would say you weren't faking it. You really are insane. All you did was speed up the process of getting put in the asylum. "_

_She grinned and snuggled closer "I can definitely learn to love you." _

_Tell me which one you like more :D_

_~LS_


	10. slipping

It had been a long day.

The soft comfort of my mattress, the warmth of my comforter, and the embrace of my pillow were just what I needed at the end of it.

I had made it to that realm in between sleeping and waking, that realm where anything is possible, when my descent was interrupted.

"You're forgetting me"

Annoyed and tired, I ignored it.

"See what I mean? We used to have conversations, used to talk. Now you just ignore me."

I continued to ignore it, until I fell asleep.

The next night was the same. My weary body fell into bed, and didn't want to move an inch. I was almost asleep when the voice came again.

"You're losing me. I'll disappear."

"I'm not losing you," I muttered

"You are! You never write about me, you never talk to me. I used to always be there… now you never think about me…"

"I write about you!"

"No, you don't. I'm slipping away."

"Well perhaps that's a good thing! Did you ever think about how perhaps my talking to you isn't completely natural? Perhaps it is a sign of my slipping sanity? I don't want to end up like Azula!"

"Did _you _ever think about the fact that you even mentioning Azula is a sign that your sanity has already slipped?"

"So you're saying I'm insane?" I put the pillow over my head

"Yes, you are, and that's why I love you."

"Go away."

I needed sleep.

The next night his voice was weak, barely there.

"You're still forgetting," he whispered.

It was easier to ignore.

I thought that was it. Two nights without him, I thought I was ok. But I wasn't… I did miss him.

"I told you."

"You're… you're back!" I almost sat up, but realized that would take physical effort, so didn't

"I suppose it is rather hard to get rid of me, but you _are _on the path."

"How do I get you back?"

"Write about me. Dream of me."

"No! It's not… it's… insane!"

I could see his irritated look

"Fine." I sighed, "I'll write about this."

"Sounds good to me."

"Goodnight Sokka"

"G'night Lu"

So here I am, writing about him to you.

I know I'm insane.

But I don't care.


	11. Vegetarian

"Sir, would you like some steak?"

The young man shook his head adamantly, "No, thank you."

"Roast Duck?"

"No, thank you!"

"Crab Puffs?"

"NO, thank you!"

"But sir, you must eat something!"

The young man surveyed all the food on the table skeptically, "Is this _all _meat"

"Well, yes sir…" The man wrung his hands nervously

"Don't you know of my convictions?"

"Um…"

"I DON'T EAT MEAT!"

"Oh, sir, I'm so sorry, I didn't… we didn't, uh…"

"I suppose I just won't eat anything then."

"But sir –"

The man sat up, sweating and breathing heavily, horrified.

"What is it?" The woman next to him sat up too, frowning.

"I just had the worst nightmare ever. I was a vegetarian!"

"Oh, Sokka," Suki shook her head and gave him a quick kiss on the forehead, "Sometimes I wonder why I married you. Then I realize you'd probably never survive without me!"

Sokka paid her no attention, still caught up in his nightmare, "I didn't eat _anything_!"

Suki laughed out loud, "I love you, Sokka!"

*snort* yeah, that would be my worst nightmare too! LOL :D

I love this little drabble! It makes me happy


	12. ランダム Randamu

**This is probably ancient, and overused, but I don't care. It was REALLY fun! And now I have proof that my computer is obsessed with the Lion King. [no joke.]**

**Nine Zutara bits and one surprise :D **

**The rules for this iTunes meme:**

**Put your iTunes on shuffle. Write the first thing that pops into your head when listening to the song, and finish writing before the song is over. Repeat nine more times.**

**1.**** Can You Feel The Love Tonight [The Lion King]**

Zuko watched her hair fly out in the wind. He could stare at it for hours and never grow bored. He mentally smacked himself. He wasn't supposed to feel this way for _her._ This would never work. Never.

Katara stared over the cliff, at the ocean in front of her, wondering how long this rugged wind would continue. She sighed, a sigh of disappointment. She was disappointed in herself. She was suffering an acute case of denial. She looked back at Zuko, and saw he had been looking at her. He turned away, pretending he hadn't, but she wasn't fooled. Somehow, this made her whole night.

Toph grinned to herself. She could feel Zuko and Katara's heartbeats, and knew something that both of them were trying to ignore. They were in love.

**2. Be Prepared [The Lion King]**

"Azula won't be easy to beat. We need to come up with a strategy."

Zuko turned and looked at the waterbender in surprise, "That's a good idea."

"I have those every once in a while," she said wryly.

He grinned, "Ok, let's talk strategy."

"You go straight for her, distract her, while I sneak up from behind."

"What if she kills me before you can get to her?"

Katara drew a sharp breath, then saw the glimmer in his eyes, "You're not that weak, are you? I mean, I know _I _can beat you in five seconds, but I thought it took Azula longer."

His grin widened, "You can't beat me in five seconds"

She smiled. She loved this banter.

He wouldn't die. She'd make sure of it.

**3. Show Me Your Glory [Third Day]**

"You think you're so great, don't you."

"I am," the firebender scoffed

"Fine. Show me. Show me your amazing abilities"

He rolled his eyes, but he complied. He went through a lengthy demonstration.

"You didn't have an opponent." She shrugged.

"What!"

"Fight me. You won't win."

Thus ensued a fight, the likes of which hadn't been seen in a while. It ended up being Zuko pinned to a tree. Their hair was loose, their clothes torn, and they were both panting.

For a long moment they just stared into each other's eyes. Suddenly something snapped.

"Tell no-one," murmured Zuko, and Katara nodded.

**4. Better Together [Jack Johnson]**

"I wish you would play the Tsungi horn for me."

Zuko shot a look at his new wife, "Not gonna happen."

"Please! Uncle Iroh said you were so good!"

"Not gonna happen," he repeated, turning back to his scroll.

"I bet you're amazing." She sighed sadly

Zuko looked back up from his scroll, into her amazing blue eyes. They were sad, but he could see the amusement in there too. He stood up and went to her.

"I'll play the Tsungi horn for you," He wrapped his arms around her, but it was futile. She jumped up excitedly

"Really!"

"On one condition."

"Yes?"

"Just you."

She grinned.

**5. It's America [Rodney Atkins]**

Katara looked around her, rather overwhelmed.

"This is the Fire Nation" Zuko grinned nervously, watching her reaction.

She smiled up at him, "Let's go explore"

They saw the busy markets, the docks, the housing complexes. They saw poor people and rich people, happy people and sad people, children and adults. They helped a lady get her purchases home, and helped a child find his mother. They saw life.

When the day was done Zuko turned to Katara.

"What do you think now?"

"It's amazing," She breathed, "It's so amazing."

Zuko had never felt more proud in his life.

**6. Mr. Mistoffelees [Cats]**

"I'm so sick of all this magic bending!" Sokka flopped down onto his sleeping bag, shooting glares at the four benders.

"I know you're feeling left out Sokka…" Katara bit her lip, "We don't think any less of you, because you can't bend. You're still an amazing warrior."

"Yeah Sokka, you're great!" Aang grinned at him

"You are a really good warrior," Zuko shrugged, seeming embarrassed at having to give Sokka praise.

"Your brain may be the size of a Leechi Nut, but your warrior skills are fine." Toph stomped her foot on the ground, "Snap out of it!"

It didn't help. Nothing helped.

And then she walked in.

"Sokka, love, get over it. I can't bend, and you don't see me crying." She kissed him, and then smiled.

And he got over it.

**7. Only The World [Mandisa]**

Katara stared at the women around her. They were all so… _perfect. _All dressed in their red and black robes, their perfect makeup, their perfect smiles. They spoke and moved with grace, they were kind and nice to everyone, they never lost their tempers. They were skinny as toothpicks, but they didn't look sick. They didn't have any scratches or scars, or a hair out of place. They sickened her.

And Zuko was talking to one. She saw him laugh, saw him touch the lady's arm. Aang came up behind her,

"Zuko looks like he's having fun."

"Aang! You surprised me."

She had forgotten she was supposed to be here with Aang. They had parted a while ago, but they had stayed amiable. Now she was supposed to be his date tonight.

Not pining over Zuko.

"They're sickening aren't they," the soft, familiar voice sounded in her ear. She noticed Aang melt away kindly.

She turned and flashed the newcomer a dazzling smile, "Yes Zuko, they are. But your decoy's doing a marvelous job with them."

**8. One Day I'll Fly Away [Moulin Rouge]**

She felt imprisoned.

"Katara, come help me with dinner!"  
"Katara, come help Kinnak, he hurt himself,"  
"Katara, I can't clean this up all by myself!"  
"Katara, Kiriak has asked for your hand. I believe he was quite impressed by your healing his brother. He's rather smitten."  
"Katara, you must marry him. He's got a good position, a good family. He's the perfect match."  
"Katara, your wedding is in two months. Can you help me with this now."  
"Katara, you'll wear this dress for your wedding. It was your great grandmother's!"

She never imagined her rescue would come in the form of the Fire Lord on a sky bison. And she never knew it would be so completely amazing_. So long, Kiriak_.

**9. Impossible [Kelly Clarkson]**

Aang loved her. He'd said so, so many times. So many times that she could almost predict when he would say it now, and she was faintly sick of it.

She'd had such a great life, travelling with her friends. What had happened?

She was stuck here, in Ba Sing Se, fulfilling the 'duties' of the Avatar's girlfriend. She barely even got to bend anymore.

But Aang loved her, so that made everything fine, right? Wrong.

She thought of all she might have lost. Thought about how many times people had told her the life she wanted was impossible

And she decided she would achieve the impossible

Penning a quick note to Aang, she fled Ba Sing Se.

She was going to find Zuko, tell him what she'd known for so long. Forget Mai; forget whatever other inhibitions he had.

She loved him. And she was sick of denying it.

**10. Redbird [Cadillac Sky]**

They had known they would die together. It had been a given. From their wedding day, they had wanted to always be together.

They hadn't known they'd live so long though. The life of Fire Nation royalty was riddled with assassinations and other dangers. No-one expected to live ninety-five, or ninety-seven years.

And when they'd made it that far, they knew their time would be coming soon.

They were happy when they finally passed, together, in their sleep.

They, naturally, didn't know what to expect. The afterlife was one of mystery and intrigue. But what they got was amazing.

They first saw Aang, smiling at them,

"You taught me to let go. And for that I am grateful. Your love has been stronger any other. You are a testament to love. Only one other couple has ever had a love as strong as yours. Oma, and Shu. Because of your strong love, you get a gift. A gift no other couple has ever received.

You get a second life. Reincarnation. And in every reincarnation, you will find each other. Your love will never die."

They were shocked. It was such a gift, such a blessing.

"You'll live to love another day."


	13. When You're Gone

'_When you're gone, the pieces of my heart are missing you  
When you're gone, the face I came to know is missing too  
When you're gone, the words I need to hear to always get me through the day and make it ok  
I miss you' ~Avril Lavigne [When You're Gone]_

'_Let your tears come. Let them water your soul.' ~Eileen Mayhew_

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

The death of one man sent the world into a chaos unlike any previous disaster. It shouldn't have. If the man had died one year earlier, no-one would have cared. But this man was the Fire Lord, the hope of the world, the peace-bringer. When he died, everyone in the world cried… and some people broke.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Mai?"

The Fire Lady would have turned to look at her normally bouncy friend, but she knew the outcome could be dangerous. Seeing the blatant grief on Ty Lee's ever-happy face would be heartbreaking… and Mai didn't have any heart left to break.

"What is it?"

"Are you ok?" Ty Lee laid a hand on her friend's shoulder, but the woman shrugged it off. Mai was about to snap at the acrobat, but she stopped herself. Ty Lee was just being caring, like always.

"I'm fine." Mai shrugged again.

"Sorry, stupid question. You're not fine Mai, don't pretend. You wouldn't be here if you were fine." Ty Lee sighed and sank down onto the cold grass beside Mai.

"I'll never be fine," Mai whispered, "Never again."

"He was your light." Ty Lee rubbed her head awkwardly, "Your reason for life."

Mai nodded, not even trying to stop the tears.

"I'm sorry," Ty Lee sighed again, "So sorry."

Mai brushed some dry leaves off of the headstone, "I know. So am I"

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Everybody expected the Fire Lady to be stricken. Sure, assassinations happened, but this one was completely unexpected. Everyone assumed that the Fire Lord would be able to protect himself; he was a very skilled bender, but this had been a sneak attack, a knife in a dark alley. It was a classic story, something straight out of an Ember Island play, which is why no-one expected it. Why it was such a hard blow.

Yes, Lady Mai was expected to grieve, but people still looked to her for guidance. Was the Fire Lady planning to rule, was the old uncle going to take control? Mai had to be strong. It was so hard, so very hard, and she struggled. But she had Iroh and Ty Lee to help, amongst many others.

Although one woman was less help than the others.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Katara? Are you ok?"

"It's just…" She sobbed slightly, "I still can't believe he's gone."

"Oh, Katara. We all miss him. But it's been two weeks… we have to be able to move on…" Aang came and put his arm around her, and it was all she could do to keep from slipping out of it. She was supposed to love him, supposed to want his touch.

"I can't move on, Aang."

"Sure you can, we all can. It's just something we've got to do. No choice in the matter."

"But I…" She gasped. _I was about to say I loved him. How could that be true?_

"You'll make it, Katara. I believe in you." Aang smiled and kissed her on the cheek, "I can't take this place. I'm gonna go find Sokka and Suki, see you later!"

She watched him scamper away, tears already coming back. She hated every kiss Aang gave her, every moment his arm was around her. How could she tell him that? He had blocked his chakra for her, kept himself from going into the avatar state. She felt the familiar anger, the frustration that was caused by the fact that Aang had put the world in danger just for her. Some girls would love that, find it romantic, but Katara was too practical. She knew that her life, her love, wasn't worth the world's peace.

She pushed all thoughts of Aang out of her head, focusing instead on the headstone in front of her. The dates were far too close together, the life far too short.

"Kat?"

She whirled around, and found her brother walking up. She hurriedly rubbed the tears from her eyes and wiped her nose.

"What is it?"

Sokka got right to the point; "Did you really love the Fire Lord? I mean… the way I love Suki?"

She gaped at him… "I… I… how did you, I mean…"

"I'm not dense _all _the time. I saw the way you looked at him."

"Did everyone –"

"No. I just watch you sometimes, when no-one else does. What can I say; it's my job to protect you." He smiled sadly and sat by his sister

"I think I did love him that much. I never admitted it to myself, or to anyone, but I think I did. I'm such an idiot!" She clenched her hands into fists angrily, "And a coward. I would just sit and watch him, at parties, at dinners. I loved watching his face, watching him talk. And sometimes I'd say something and he'd smile at me, or even better, laugh. Those moments were the highlight of my life. Why didn't I ever get the courage to speak to him, before he married Mai, before… this?"

Sokka sighed, "I'm sorry, Katara, so very sorry. I know that doesn't help at all, but it's all I can think to say."

Katara sniffed, "Once, he danced with me. Actually danced with me! It was the best night of my life. And when he first joined our group, after we found Yon Rha, he was so amazing. I thought, maybe… but then I saw him with Mai. That's why I kissed Aang. I hate Aang, Sokka, I honestly do. He's selfish and cowardly and he can never take anything seriously, and he is completely immature –"

"He's not that bad," Sokka interjected mildly, but Katara continued,

"I wish I could get away, but how do you leave someone who has dedicated their life to you? If there was a way he could give up being the Avatar, just so he could make our life simpler, he'd do it. He'd kill all the Air Nomads again, just to be with me. I don't understand him Sokka. I really don't."

"Would you kill the entire Water Tribe to be with the Fire Lord?"

Katara stared into Sokka's eyes for a long moment.

"I don't know," She breathed.

Sokka shook his head slightly, "Exactly. You need to work this out Katara. I'm going to go find Suki… come talk to me when you're done, ok? I love you, sis."

"Thank you Sokka. I love you too." Katara turned back to the headstone. Her throat hurt from the tears she was holding back, in fact she had a headache from it. She pulled her hair out of its braid, let it flow free. Then she snapped. She screamed out loud. She grabbed dirt from the ground and flung it at the headstone.

"Why? Why did you leave? Why didn't you love me? You acted like you loved me, and then you left me for Mai. I don't understand! Why did you have to die? Why? I miss you with every breath I take, and I don't know when that will stop. I can't live like this, but I see no end. I loved you, and I still do! I always did, but you never cared! You never cared, and now you can't! Now you're gone, forever," She stopped throwing dirt and instead fell onto her knees, sobbing. "I miss you. I'll always miss you."

"You're not the only one." The dry, emotionless voice startled her, and she jumped onto her feet. She was faced with Mai, holding a single rose and dressed simply in a red robe.

"What?"

"You're not the only one who misses him."

"I know that. Plenty of people miss him." Katara bit her lip

"Did you really love him?" Mai's voice, as well as her face, continued to be emotionless.

Katara decided to be bold for once in her life, "Yes. I did"

The women stared at each other, blue eyes meeting gold ones. Katara saw red-rimmed eyes that mirrored her own, Mai saw the wet lashes and runny nose that she herself was inflicted with.

"I'm sorry," Katara finally gasped, "I didn't want to love him. He never did anything inappropriate. He loved you."

"I know," Mai finally showed some emotion; tears were falling and her voice cracked slightly, "Why did you love him? Why did you waste all that time and energy?"

"You say that like love is a choice. I tried, I tried so hard. It is as impossible to make yourself stop loving someone as it is to make them love you." Katara turned her gaze back onto the headstone.

"I…" Mai shook her head, "You are perhaps the only person in the world who understands how I feel."

Katara's eyes snapped back from the stone, "I suppose so. Does this mean you don't hate me?"

"I don't hate you." Mai nodded

"Thank you," Katara gave a slight nod of her own, and then slipped off toward Sokka.

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Slowly, the world righted itself.

Lady Mai assumed the position of Fire Lord, with Uncle Iroh as primary advisor. She struggled, but she was learning.

Katara decided to leave Aang and go to the Northern Water Tribe to help the women, help them embrace their rights.

In the time it took for them to escape the shadow of heartbreak, they became close friends.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Before you leave, I have something to tell you." Mai bit her nail nervously.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing I just… I wanted you to hear this from me and not some random person… I'm pregnant, with his baby. I'm sorry Katara, I just –"

"Sorry? That's amazing! Congratulations Mai!" Katara gave her friend a hug

"I'm so glad… I just thought you might be… I mean…" Mai was rarely lost for words, but she seemed unable to say this.

"I understand. I couldn't be happier for you, Mai. Truly." Katara smiled sadly

"Goodbye Kat," Mai echoed her sad smile, "Promise you'll write?"

"Every little detail! G'bye Mai."

Katara stepped into the boat and waved until Mai was no longer visible.

'_We were the only ones who were truly heartbroken,'_ she thought, _'the only ones who will never be the same.' _

She was wrong

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Another girl sat on her bed and stared out of a tiny, barred window at the gray sky.

"It seems like the sky's been gray for two months. Ever since that day."

There was no-one else in the room. The girl was speaking to herself, or to a hallucination.

"I didn't do it. It wasn't my fault."

The girl rubbed at her eyes, trying to get rid of the tears that were falling, the tears she had no use for.

"Mai blames me. I'm sure she does."

She tore her hair out of its ragged ponytail, and ran her fingers through it.

"He said he liked my hair. He said it was soft. When we were little, he always wanted to pet it. Until father told him that was girly. I liked it when he messed with my hair."

She screamed and threw a fireball at the wall,

"It wasn't my fault! I had no part in it! Why do they think that? I didn't hate him! I didn't! He was my brother!"

She gathered lightning and shot that at the same spot

"Now I'll never get to tell him sorry, never get to see him. They said I was getting better… they said I was doing alright. I was sorry, I really was, but he'll never know! Never!" she gasped and fell back onto the bed, sobbing.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I really am sorry."

She closed her eyes tightly and pictured his face;

"Zuzu… I love you."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

_A/N – so, um, here's some tissues *sniff* if someone besides me wrote this, I'd be sobbing. Unfortunately I find it impossible to cry at my own work (except cry because it's so darn awful... hah) _

_Anyway. I've had this in my head forever… finally got it out! :D poor azula. No-one would ever think of her. :/ OH and yeah, so, I just listened to When You're Gone on constant loop… that song is so sad! :/ _

_Thanks for reading, ~LS_


	14. Family  ZW

_For Zutara Week! - Family_

**everything belongs to Bryke, Nickelodeon, and Viacom except Kiza.  
**

"There!" Katara stepped back and surveyed her work proudly. "What do you think, Zuko?"

He smiled at her, "Perfect, Kat. I love them!"

She smiled with him. The wall looked much better now that she had added the rest of the pictures of their family. The smiling faces of all of their relatives hung in a beautiful arrangement on the red wall.

"Do you think it's ok that I put Toph and Aang to the side over here? I mean, they are part of our family, but technically they aren't related so I just –"

"It's fine! They fit in nicely. Their relationship with us is clear."

"Thanks. Wait, what about the fact that I didn't put Suki next to Sokka? I mean, they aren't married yet, I don't know what on earth he's waiting for, so they really shouldn't –"

"Katara! It's wonderful! You are an amazing decorator!" Zuko took his wife's hand encouragingly.

She smiled at him again and then took in the whole wall. A small portrait of Azula as a child caught her eye.

"Zuko, have you ever noticed that Kiza looks a lot like Azula?"

"She acts like her too!" Zuko laughed at Katara's worried face, "It was a joke! Kiza is a wonderful child. She'll make a great ruler someday too."

"I know. Can you believe that she's really our daughter? She's really related to us?"

"Can you believe that ALL these people are really related to us?"

Katara broke out laughing

"Crazy bunch of folks!"


	15. Change ZW

_Zutara Week – Change_

**Everything belongs to Bryke, Nickelodeon, and Viacom**

"You were right. It is beautiful here. I couldn't remember anything except… fighting you." Zuko laughed nervously and Katara smiled slightly;

"That seemed to happen a lot."

"Yeah." He shot a quick glance at her and found her staring at him, an amused look on her face. He quickly turned his gaze back to the bridge planks at his feet.

"I… uh… brought you here to ask you something." Katara finished crossing the bridge and motioned for him to follow. She led him to the edge of the small glowing pool. They watched the two fish inside swim around for a few moments before Zuko cleared his throat.

"What is it? I mean… that you wanted to ask me." He stepped back a few paces from the pool.

"Oh, right. I just…" She sighed, "A lot of things have changed, Zuko. Things haven't gone exactly the way I planned them. I traced it all back, to the place where things started going wrong. That place was the Crystal Catacombs."

"Go on." Zuko was now watching her carefully

"I want to make an offer… a wedding present, if you will." She bent a thin stream of water from the pool, "I want to heal your scar."

"Will it work?"

"I don't know." She didn't break eye contact.

They stayed like that for a heartbeat; eyes connecting, breathing loud, expressions uncertain. Finally, Katara reached her hand, covered in healing water, up to Zuko's face.

Zuko didn't stayed completely still. The water on his cheek was cool, and not unpleasant. After a minute he sighed, and pulled Katara's hand off.

"I don't want it to heal, Kat. It won't heal if I don't want it to."

"What? Why? And how… how do you know that."

He nodded towards a transparent white form.

"Yue!" Katara gasped

"Hello Katara. How is Sokka?"

"He's great, I guess. Why are you here?"

"Thanks for the welcome." Yue smiled, "I am here to talk to you, Katara. This is pointless. Healing Zuko will not make your life fall into place."

"But I –"

"Katara. Yue's right." Zuko was still holding Katara's hand, though the water had been released. "I'm not your problem. Your problems didn't start in Ba Sing Se. That's just when you started noticing them. That's when your eyes were opened."

"That's when I was betrayed!" She pulled her hand away from his angrily.

"Katara!" Yue frowned deeply, "Stop it, right now. You know what… who, your real problem is. You must release him. You don't love him. You're just lying to him, and to yourself."

"But…" Katara shot a quick, mournful glance at Zuko, "What if he's all I have left?"

Zuko put a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"He's not."

"But you're getting married! You are no longer an option! Aang is the only person I can safely love!" Katara whirled around to him, eyes full of tears

"Things change, situations change. People change, Katara."

"What does that mean?" She wiped a tear away and frowned at him

"Maybe the only reason I was getting married was because I thought _Mai _was the only person I had left. Maybe that has changed"

She smiled and reached her hand back up to his scar, "Can we change, Zuko?"

"Everyone can change, Katara."


	16. Pain ZW

_Zutara Week – Pain_

_(This is an unofficial sequel to my previous TW & LM one-shot, 'How It Should Have Ended'. It CAN be read independently, but it will have greater impact if you read HISHE first. :) ~LS)_

**Everything belongs to Bryke, Nickelodeon, and Viacom**

She stared, aghast, at the fiercely burning pyre.

How had this happened? How had it gone this far?

She crumpled down onto the cold, wet ground, sobbing weakly. Of course the ground would be cold and wet. It was only fitting, right? She closed her eyes tightly to shut out the flames, but the images she was greeted with weren't much better.

She saw the arrow strike Zuko. Saw it pierce him. The bruises and blisters on her feet throbbed as she saw herself run toward him, way too slowly. As much as she tried to stop it, she saw the next firebender come up and burn him. She could smell the burning flesh (though that could be from the pyre) and hear his screams.

Realizing she could take no more, she forced her eyes open. Watching the pyre was bad, but that was much worse.

To keep the images at bay, she surveyed the pyre. It was a pitiful thing, she knew. If Zuko had died in the Fire Nation he would have been given a proper burning. He would have had a splendid white dais for the wooden pyre to sit on, complete with golden trimmings. A true Fire Lord's funeral.

But they weren't in the Fire Nation. They could never go back there. Ever.

Rather, she could never go back. Zuko wouldn't be going anywhere ever again.

This thought brought her back to sobs. She felt so pitiful, so weak, but she couldn't stop them.

"_Yue give me strength"_

This seemed to be a daily, almost hourly, prayer for her. The life of an outcast wasn't an easy one and, even though she considered herself strong, she still found herself in impossible situations.

As she stared pleadingly at the faint moon a piece of parchment fluttered into her frame of vision. She snatched it out of the air quickly. The edges of it were burnt, and it had a few holes from where embers had landed on it, but it was readable. And it was addressed to her.

"_Dear Katara,_

_I'm writing this to you now, before I lose my courage or something like that. _

_We have just been married, the most wonderful moment of my life, and I want to make sure you know things, in case… anything happens to me. I know that this life we have chosen won't be easy, which is why I'm writing this. If I die, I want you to know that I love you. I have and will always love you. You were the light that pulled me out of the murky water, which strikes me as our places in life being switched. I only hope I showed some light to you, at some point in our lives. _

_I suppose if you're reading this I have died. That kinda sucks. Please, don't stop living your life because of it. Go back to Aang, he'll take you back. One thing before you do though… I suppose you could call it a dying wish. If we haven't already… can you find my mother? Tell her what happened to me. Bring her back to the Fire Nation._

_I know this note may strike you as odd. It seems like a suicide note, in some respects, but it is not. It's just that I have lived as an outlaw before… I know that it isn't easy. There is always someone bigger and stronger, and if I die I don't want you to be left cold. _

_I love you Katara_

_Yours forever,_

_Zuko"_

She gasped with sobs. How could he? How could he leave her like this, all alone? She turned her face toward the rising sun in anger, but before she could say anything a breeze blew her hair back and cooled her flushed face. She sighed, all her anger dissipating. She knew what she had to do. She had to find his mother. As she realized this, her face aged thirty years. She was no longer a naive young girl. She couldn't be.

She turned and walked calmly to the pyre. The silhouette was gone; only ashes remained. The fire was still burning, but it wasn't half as large as it had been. She took a deep breath, preparing herself for what she was going to do. She wasn't leaving here without a reminder of this place, of this moment… a physical reminder. Closing her eyes, she thrust her hand into the fire and kept it there. As the fire etched designs on her previously unblemished hand, she let all her tears and sorrow escape. She would leave this place clean, of everything except this scar. Finally, her outer pain matched her inner pain. When she was alight with pain everywhere she removed her hand and, opening her eyes, set off toward the rising sun. She had a mission.

_I love you too, Zuko_


	17. Date ZW

_Zutara Week – Date  
_

**Everything belongs to Bryke, Nickelodeon, and Viacom**

Zuko took a deep breath and pushed the flap aside. He paused just inside the doorway to let his eyes adjust to the dim light.

"Hello, son."

Zuko blinked and took in the shape in front of him. It was firm, unforgiving, and utterly terrifying.

"Um, hello mister… Hakoda… sir."

Hakoda put on an easy smile. It was one of triumph; he knew he had the upper hand here.

"Katara's getting ready. Here, have a seat." He pointed to a block of ice covered with an animal skin: the same kind of seat he was currently sitting on.

"Er… thanks." Zuko sat down and looked around the small igloo awkwardly. "So… uh… nice place."

"Thank you." Hakoda still held his amused smile.

"Uh… you catch a lot of animals, I see?" Zuko scratched the back of his head uneasily

"I do. Ok, Zuko. I won't put you through any more pain." Hakoda gave a giant laugh and Zuko's expression became even more scared, "Here are some rules. Standard, I would think. Home by 11. No excessive touching. You treat her right, or I'll kill you, Fire Lord or not."

Zuko nodded

"Yes sir."

Before any more awkwardness could occur, Katara ran into the room.

"Zuko!" She smiled and grabbed his hand, "Sorry I kept you waiting! Come on, let's go."

She stopped at the door and smiled at her father, "Bye daddy!"

"Goodbye Katara" Hakoda shook his head as she scampered out of the hut, Zuko in tow.

Sokka walked in, munching on some seal jerky.

"Did Katara just leave… with Zuko?"

Hakoda sighed, "Whatever happened to that nice airbending boy?"

Sokka nodded, "You knew nothing crazy was going to happen with him!"

Hakoda shook his head sadly, "We've got to clean our boomerangs."


	18. Harmony ZW

"No, it's _higher_! Don't you know _anything_?" Katara pushed back a stray piece of hair and frowned at Zuko

"Not about singing I don't. We don't _sing_ in the Fire Nation."

"Well that explains everything! No wonder you're all a bunch of grumpy warmongers!"

He raised his eyebrows and tried to hide his smile; "Warmongers?"

"You know, people who… want war." She rolled her eyes, "Whatever, can we try this again?"

They attempted the song again, and had another failed result.

"Sorry," Zuko sighed, "I really am trying!"

"I know," Katara bent the sweat off of her forehead, "Maybe one more time?"

"I really don't think this is going to work. Face it Katara; I'm tone deaf."

"No!" She set her jaw, "I will not accept that!"

"Katara –"

"One more time, please! You know I'm never going to get Toph or Sokka to sing, and it's Aang's _birthday_! You can't have a proper birthday without hearing the birthday song!"

She looked so pitifully pleading, he just couldn't say no.

"Fine. One more. And then we'll go sing to him, no matter what, ok?"

She nodded, "Ok."

They tried, and failed, once more.

"I'm really –"

"It's ok!" Katara interrupted Zuko for the fiftieth time, "It's fine. Better than nothing. Come on, let's go sing to him."

As they trudged along the beach Katara smiled slyly. With small, barely noticeable movements she pulled a ball of water out of the ocean and dropped it on Zuko's head. He coughed and spluttered, staring at her in shock.

"What was that for?"

She could barely talk through her laughter, "I hear… water… good for… vocal chords… OH!"

Zuko had picked her up like a baby, his arms under her neck and her knees, and was running for the water.

"Zuko! Zuko put me down! Zuko stop!" Even though she knew what he was going to do she couldn't help but continue to laugh, and the laughter hampered her escape attempts. "Don't you dare! Zukoooo!"

He grinned, "Sorry Katara, but if water is good for the vocal chords…" He left his sentence unfinished as he dropped her into the waist deep water.

He grew worried as she didn't come up.

"Katara?" He couldn't see anything in the murky water, "Katara, are you ok?"

His legs were suddenly pulled out from under him, and he was underwater in an instant. When he came up ha was faced with Katara, hands on her hips and smirk on her face.

"You asked for it!" She let a stray giggle escape, and he had to laugh with her. Eventually they were doubled over, laughing at themselves.

"You just dropped it… on my… head!" Zuko's sentence was punctuated with chuckles

"Picked me up! And I couldn't… get out!" Katara snorted, which sent them into more laughter.

"Hey guys, whatcha doing?" Aang was calling from shore.

"Hey, it's Aang! Come on, we have to sing to him!" Katara grabbed Zuko's hand and began pulling him towards shore, "We're coming Aang!"

Zuko looked at their hands and smiled slightly.

"Aang!" Katara gave him a quick hug, "We are going to sing to you!"

"Sing?" Aang raised an eyebrow

"Yeah, it's your birthday! You have to be sung to on your birthday!"

Aang shrugged, "Ok then."

"Ready Zuko?"

He nodded in the affirmative, and they launched into the birthday song. Zuko hit every note_._ When they were done Katara jumped on him in a hug

"You did it! You hit the _harmony_! Zuko I'm so proud! I knew you weren't tone deaf!"

Zuko smiled and hugged her back, tightly.

"Uh, thanks guys. I'm gonna go… Appa is… uh, calling…" Aang scrunched up his nose and ran to Appa, and the rest of the gaang who were sitting against the bison.

"Appa must have really needed you Aang… he was calling you really loudly." Toph snorted, "By the way, you owe me, Snoozles."

"I… they… NOT Zuko!" Sokka scrunched up his face in a deep frown

"Aww, they're so cute, Sokka! Give them a break. And pay Toph, before you lose the money elsewhere." Suki gave him a quick kiss on the cheek to soften the blow.

He snorted like an angry bull, but he paid up.

Aang sat atop Appa and frowned at the world.

"Worst. Birthday. Ever."


	19. AU ZW

_Zutara Week – AU_

_(This is a Star Wars crossover-type :D because uh… Star Wars is completely amazingly awesome ;) Set post ROTS, pre ANH __)_

**Everything belongs to Bryke, Nickelodeon, Viacom, George Lucas… and lots of other people I'm sure. But not me - *sadface* ;) **

**br**

A blank sheet of paper.

Katara stared at it for five full minutes before sighing and crumpling it up.

"Excuse me miss, but, if you're not going to use it, may I have that paper? I have a letter I would like to write, and a sad lack of paper to write it on."

Katara looked up, startled, at the man sitting beside her. They had been stopped at this pass for a while and she hadn't even realized he was there. Mentally chiding herself for her lack of observation, she uncrumpled the paper.

"Of course you may. Sorry it's… uh… crumpled." She handed it to him with an apologetic smile.

"No problem. It's better than nothing, right?"

"Right," She gave him a quick smile and then returned her gaze to her feet, and her thoughts to her words.

After a few moments the man spoke again, "I am so sorry to bother you again, but do you happen to have a pen or pencil?"

"Oh!" She dug through her tiny bag, amazed that something could disappear in that small of a space. She knew there was a pen in there somewhere! Finally, with a triumphant shout, she pulled a pen out and handed hit to the man, "There you are!"

He managed to hold back his laughter and take the pen, with a strangled, "Thank you."

He began to write, but she found it hard to go back to her thoughts. Instead of focusing on what she was going to write, her mind flitted through multiple subjects. Where was she going to go, what was she going to do? Why were they still sitting here, stock still, and what was this man's name?

"I'm very sorry sirs and madams," came a voice over the loudspeaker, "but there has been an accident and we are being forced to take a much longer detour. I'm afraid it will be another hour before we reach our stop. Again, I am so sorry, but thank you for choosing Coruscant Air Metro for your transportation needs!"

The man shook his head in annoyance and turned back to the paper.

"So… do you have somewhere to be in the next hour?" Katara _felt_ like she was being subtle

"Nope," the man didn't even look up, "You?"

"No, I don't." She sighed and went back to staring at her feet. She felt like a child, bored and cranky. After a few minutes of pensive silence, she let out a giant breath, and held out her hand to the man.

"I'm Katara."

The man raised an eyebrow, but he shook her hand, "Zuko."

"Nice to meet you Zuko!"

"You too, Katara. Thanks for the paper and pen." He smiled

"Oh, sure! I wasn't using them!"

The conversation tapered off, much to her annoyance. She kicked her legs like a two year old, and finally could take it no more.

"We are all alone in this compartment!"

"Are you suggesting something?" The man looked a little concerned

"No!" she unconsciously backed up, and her eyes grew wide with shock. As soon as she'd gotten over the surprise, though, her expression became devious; "Actually, yes. I am suggesting something. I'm suggesting we have a conversation!"

Zuko rolled his eyes ever so slightly, and sighed.

"We will probably never meet again…" Katara stared at the steel ceiling above her, attempting to regain her courage, "We could tell each other our deepest secrets, our most hidden thoughts."

Zuko raised an eyebrow.

"You don't talk much, do you?" Katara played with the end of her long braid nervously

"I don't often find that there is a reason to, and words should not be wasted."

Katara was rather abashed. She took a deep breath, regaining her confidence again. She was like a waterfall… you could throw dirt on her, crush her ideas and her feelings, but she would continue to flow and eventually she would be clean and fresh again. At least… that was what her mother had always told her.

"I was a decoy," she began.

Zuko signed his name to the letter, folded it up and put it in his belt before looking up; "A decoy?"

"For Senator Padmé Amidala. Before she…" Katara shook her head slightly

"Is that what happened? She died? Apparently you didn't do your job well enough," Zuko snorted slightly

Katara's eyes blazed, "It's not a funny thing at all, _sir._ No-one knows how she died; we were just informed that it had happened. And _for your information _decoys are not used on a regular basis, just when important peop-"

"I know what decoys are. It was a joke."

"Well it wasn't a very funny one. What are you, anyway? A mechanic? A servant?" She turned up her nose indignantly

"Do I look like one?"

She lost her indignant air immediately, "No, not really. You look more like…" her voice dropped to a whisper, "A soldier. You look like a soldier."

He shook his head, "It's the scar isn't it?"

"No! I mean… well… I'm sure that's part of it but… you just have this air about you. It's very warrior like."

"That makes sense. I'm a Jedi."

She laughed, "Very funny. You're just pulling my leg. All the Jedi are dead, or in hiding."

"It's actually not funny at all, _madam_."

No one likes to have their words thrown in their face, and Katara especially hated it.

"Now look here –"

"We're even," He shrugged

"Why do you keep doing that? Interrupting me?"

"Because you talk a lot, and sometimes I can say one word and save you from wasting dozens."

"There is no such thing as _wasting words!_ You can have as many words as you want! Just because _some _people tend to be _stingy _and not use all their words, doesn't mean us people who revel in our infinite amount need to be held back! I can talk however much I want! I could talk all day, I wouldn't be _wasting _anything! Talking isn't like food or time or-"

"There you go again." Zuko shook his head and clicked his tongue disapprovingly.

Katara stood up in a huff, "What is your problem? Why can't you just let me finish a _sentence?_ I am _trying _to be patient and friendly and all that nice stuff but you are pushing me over the edge! I don't see why you can't just be a little –AH!"

The bus lurched on a bit of turbulence and Katara found herself falling into Zuko. He caught her neatly, much to her embarrassment.

"Uh, thanks," She was alarmed to realize his arms were fully around her, she couldn't sit back up. "You can, uh, let go of me…"

"Oh, right, sorry." He let her go and she slipped back into her seat, smoothing her hair and her dress as she moved.

Silence reigned in the car for a while, but even supreme embarrassment could not keep Katara silent for too long.

"So, uh… you're a Jedi?"

"Yep."

"How... how did you escape the… uh… mass… um –"

"Execution? "

She nodded

"I was in the right place at the right time."

"Oh." She bit her lip, unsure if she should ask the next question. Aw, to the empire with it; "So what place, in what time, are you heading to?"

A shadow of a smile traced his lips but skipped his eyes, "Not completely sure."

"I guess that's something we have in common," She muttered

"Are you running away, Katara? Because that's what I'm doing. I'm running, from my family, from my responsibilities… I should be finding other rouge Jedi, helping rebuild my community, telling my family, in person, that I'm alive. Instead, I'm running away. It's so very easy… everyone will assume I'm dead. I will be able to start a life on whatever minor planet I want, doing whatever I want, with whomever I want."

"That is what I'm doing," She kept her eyes on her sensible shoes, "But I am not as strong as you. I have no family to leave, no friends, no responsibilities. Just a lack of work and a lack of enjoyment in this rotten city. I hate it and I hate my life here, so I'm leaving. I've no one to tell, save… well…" She shook her head.

"Who?" He prodded gently

"My sister," Katara sighed, "She's much older, and we were never really close but…"

"She should know," finished Zuko

"What about you? Who is the letter for?"

"My master… my mentor."

"Is he… still alive?"

"I think so. I hope so." Zuko stared out of the window at the rapidly passing scenery

"I'm sure he is," Katara sounded so confidant, he simply had to believe her.

In a sudden motion that scared her, he turned from the window and grabbed her hand;

"Come with me! We can go together!"

"What… what do you mean?" She glanced quickly at their hands

"Nothing… nothing like _that. _I mean… just as friends. This is not the time to be traveling about as a young woman. It's not the safest point in this galaxy's history. I'd protect you."

It was her turn to gaze out of the window thoughtfully, "It would be great for me, but how would it help you? I would just be a hindrance!"

"You wouldn't be a hindrance!" He rubbed his free hand through his hair awkwardly, "It would help me… because… a man looks more respectable if he's traveling with a woman! A man on his own isn't very trustworthy, but a young couple appears harmless."

"Right…" She knew there was only a tiny bit of truth in this, but she was choosing to believe it.

"I know we just met an hour ago but… why not?"

"I hope you realize this is the craziest thing I've ever done. What if you are a crazy murderer?" Katara frowned dubiously

"I'll let you read my letter! You'll have to trust me then!"

She laughed, "No, I don't need to read your letter. Where is this coming from anyway?"

"I don't know…" He stared deep into her icy eyes, "I just feel like we're supposed to be together, be it platonically or not."

She searched his golden eyes for trickery or deceit, but found none, "This is insane!"

"I know, but don't you think we need a bit of good insanity, after all the bad insanity that has been happening in this world?"

"I can't believe I'm going to say this but… yes. I feel it too, this need to be together, platonically or... not."

He laughed, which made her laugh, and soon they were both in hysterics.

Years later, they ran into a man, on a planet called Tatooine. This man was a Jedi, and they stayed with him for a while. They talked many hours with him, shared many stories and such.

After they'd left, the man reveled at them. They were the friends he'd thought he'd lost many years ago. In the woman he saw the spirit of a Queen and Senator; a fierce yet sweet spirit, and in the man he saw the spirit of an old Padawan; a troubled but passionate spirit. Together, their love echoed that of one lost and destroyed. He saw the love of the Jedi and the Senator, the love that burned bright and could not be extinguished, though its previous owners had passed to different stages of life. And in their child, a young son, he saw happiness and fulfillment that could never be seen in the eyes of the children of the old union. He was amazed, and moved to tears to find out that Padme and Anakin had found each other once again, that their love had not been lost but reborn into new hosts.

Obi Wan felt as if his hearts deepest desire had come true. Or, at least… one of them.

(Yes, they are partial reincarnations of Padme and Ani. Obviously not FULL reincars, as they were alive when p&a were alive… but… yeah )


	20. Storm ZW

"Wow! You really CAN see everything from up here!" Katara took in the amazing view of the mountains and sprawling oceans.

"You didn't believe me?" Zuko smiled and took her hand, "I wasn't exaggerating. We should come up tonight too, when the sun is setting. It's absolutely incredible."

"Does it rise over the water?"

"Yep, right over there," Zuko pointed to a spot slightly left of center, "It is so beautiful."

"Right over there... you mean where that giant storm is?" Katara frowned at the mass of broiling clouds

"Yeah," Zuko laughed slightly, "The giant storm."

"That storm looks pretty serious!" Katara's frown deepened

Zuko raised an eyebrow; "A waterbender, afraid of a storm? That's something new!"

Katara turned to him fiercely, "I'm NOT afraid of it! I'm just saying, maybe we should go inside!"

Zuko was unperturbed, "Why did we bring this umbrella then?" He held up the offending object, eyebrow still quirked

"Honestly, I'm not sure," Katara rolled her eyes, "I can keep us dry just fine!"

Zuko's slight smile turned into a full on smirk; "I know why. Would you like me to show you?"

Katara shrugged, "Sure."

Zuko popped open the umbrella and pointed it back towards the little house that the gaang was staying in. He pulled her behind it, and she just had time to giggle before the heavens let loose and they were soaked.

"So much for keeping us dry," Zuko whispered

"This is much better," She replied, with a smirk of her own.

(OK this will probably make NO sense if you don't see this - /art/Zutara-Week-2010-Storm-174048784 and then the ending for this is on PAGE TWO of that :))


	21. Finding Happiness

Azula lay in the unfamiliar bed, staring at the unfamiliar ceiling, wishing she wasn't here. She swore she could hear Mai and Ty Lee in the other room, talking about their perfect lives, their wonderful successes, even though the door was closed. She definitely could hear the soft breaths of the earthbender sleeping above her. She tried to sleep, but sleep hated her just as much as everyone else. It wasn't about to come willingly. Instead of sleep she settled for memories. She forced herself to remember the events leading up to her being here.

Sokka had come in for lunch like he did every day.

"Azula, I have some great news!"

She yawned at his chipper attitude, "What is it?"

"Katara and Aang have decided to throw a giant Avatar Day party! They invited me… and you."

"Me?" Her eyes narrowed.

"Yes you! We want to include you, Azula. You're my friend and Zuko's sister… you are a part of our group." Sokka grinned

"Who will be there?"

"Katara, Aang, Toph, Zuko, Mai, Ty Lee, me, and you!"

"And Suki?"

His joyous expression fell, "I don't think so."

Azula sighed. Sokka would go whether or not she did. So she was faced with an awful choice: spend a week in this boring place without even his visits to keep her sane, or go with him and have to face all those people. The people who hadn't visited when she was in the asylum, hadn't written when she'd made it out, hadn't ever even liked her.

"Come on, it'll be fun!" Sokka's grin was back.

"I guess I'll go," she sighed.

"Great! I'll be back to pick you up tomorrow! I have to go get ready now. Zuko and Mai are travelling with us, naturally."

"See you tomorrow." She gave one smile for his sake.

The trip there was interesting, at least. Mai and Zuko had fallen asleep, which she found to be rather cliché.

"Is this a story or is it real life?" she grumbled under her breath.

"Did you say something?" Sokka turned from where he had been watching the scenery pass by

"Oh… um…" she frowned, "Why did you and Suki split up? I thought… I thought you guys were the closest."

Sokka couldn't hide the extreme pain that flashed to his face, and she immediately hated herself. Why did she always have to do that? Cause people pain, say things without thinking.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean… you don't have to answer," She sighed

"No, it's ok. Suki was cheating on me."

"That's horrible! With who?" She bit her lip. There she'd gone, doing it again. Why on earth would he want to tell her who his ex-girlfriend had been cheating with?

He laughed bitterly, "I have no idea. She came clean about it, but she didn't tell me who with. I left her, which probably seems cold, but I couldn't take it."

"I would have killed her."

He smiled bemusedly, "I suppose you would have. Anyway, the only person I know it _wasn't_ is Zuko. I talked to him about it. Other than that… it could be anyone."

She sighed, "Tough luck."

"Yeah, that's an understatement. I thought we were the closest too."

She patted his shoulder awkwardly, "Sorry about it."

He shrugged, "I'm over it."

But the way he turned back to the window, jaw tense, said otherwise.

"Azula! Hi!" Ty lee had squeezed the Fire Princess until she'd almost suffocated

"It's good to see you too Ty Lee!"

Ty Lee was about the only person who was actually glad to see her. The Avatar acted like he was glad, but she could tell he was still wary. Toph and Katara didn't even try to hide their uncertainty.

"Sokka's told me so many things about you!" Azula smiled at Katara kindly. The waterbender shot a look at her brother before returning a more fake version of Azula's smile.

"He's told me a lot about you too."

Toph had been even more blatant. "Make one wrong move and you're history."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Azula had been annoyed at their disbelief.

Dinner had been nice though.

After dinner had been awful.

Toph had made the fiftieth stinging comment, and Katara had sneered in Azula's direction. She couldn't hold her rage in any more. She had apologized multiple times. Sokka had said she'd recovered. Why on earth couldn't they just forgive her and move on with their lives. She stood up and screamed at them;

"What is your problem? Why can't you just get over it? Yes, I tried to kill you! So did Zuko, but you all _love _him! People can change!"

"You can't" Katara stood up, "You _can't _change. You're still the same old monster, only now you've got my brother under your influence. You've conned him into thinking you're good, conned all of them. But you can't fool me _Azula. _I will never trust you."

"How dare you! You little…" Azula could feel the fire burning inside her, but she didn't check it. This little chit deserved to be taught a lesson. She lashed out with it, ignored Sokka's warning yell, ignored Zuko's hand on her arm, and ignored the fact that Ty Lee was chi blocking her. She slumped to the ground, fire extinguished, still boiling with anger.

She stayed furious until Sokka picked her up and put her on the couch. He grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him.

"You burnt Ty Lee. She was trying to keep everyone – and the furniture – safe and for thanks she got burned."

Azula felt hollow, empty.

"Was it very bad?"

"Just her arm. Katara's healing it right now."

"I'm sorry," Azula whispered

"I know. I still believe in you, Azula." He hugged her, and then walked off. She was left to contemplate her outburst, which she did until she heard voices.

"Sokka, please. She hasn't changed at all."

"Don't talk like that. I had half a mind to let her burn you, the way you're treating her. You'd lash out at someone who was treating you that way too."

"I am nothing like that insane woman."

"She is no longer insane, _Katara._ And if you don't start treating her better, I'm taking her and we're leaving."

"Sokka! Do you… I mean… do you _love _her?"

Azula held her breath in the ensuing pause. Did he?

"No, not that way" He finally said, "But I am her best friend. The closest friend she has. I will support her."

Azula heard Katara's snort, but she was already in another world, one of dreams and wishes. One that was completely different from this hell-comparable world she was living in.

She didn't come out of her day dream until Sokka came back, Katara in tow.

"You can sleep on the extra bed in Toph's room."

"She'll be able to feel if you get up, if you're planning on doing something." Katara stared at the floor, "I'm sorry Azula."

"No, you were obviously right to be worried. I'm sorry." Azula didn't look at the waterbender; she let Sokka lead her straight to Toph's room.

"Goodnight." He gave her a hug.

"Night Sokka." She didn't bother returning the hug. If he didn't love her… why try.

And that was how she'd gotten here.

Mai and Ty Lee were in the room across the hall. She knew they were discussing girly things, like when Zuko was finally going to propose, or who Ty Lee had her eyes on currently.

Azula almost laughed. Perfect lives, yeah right. She'd seen the way Zuko and Katara looked at each other. The way they always managed it so they were close to each other. Mai and Aang didn't have long before they were left in the dust. And Ty Lee was still just as fake as ever. She hadn't found real happiness yet.

Still, Azula wanted to be in that room. She wanted to be discussing her troubles, Sokka's idiocy, and the mystery of who Suki had cheated with. She wanted her friends back.

She wanted to be friends with the girl above her too. Toph seemed witty and fun. Azula wanted to get to know her, wanted to be her friend, but the girl wouldn't give her a chance. Same went for Katara.

Finally, she could take it no more. She got up and slipped her red robe on over her black nightgown. She padded down the hall toward the kitchen, but stopped when she saw the torch was already lit. She peered around the corner and saw Zuko and Katara. Katara was pouring something into a cup and Zuko had his arm around her. They were both smiling, and laughing. Perhaps Mai and Aang had shorter time than she'd originally thought. For some reason the thought made her sad. Normally she would have felt a flash of joy at their pain, but finally she felt something realistic; sorrow for the dissipation of her friends' relationships.

Her original plan of getting something to eat foiled, she turned to go back to her room. She saw Sokka out of the corner of her eye and revised her plan. She always went to Sokka when she couldn't get to sleep back in the palace. He would tell her a story or make her some tea. Who cared if he didn't love her; he would help her get to sleep and that's all she cared about.

"Sokka?" She shook his shoulder gently

"Hey Azula," He sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes, "Couldn't sleep?"

She nodded.

He smiled slightly and patted a spot beside him, indicating she should sit down.

She complied, and leaned back against the pillows, "I just couldn't fall asleep. Too much to think about."

"How about I tell you a story?"

She laughed lightly, "I feel like a little kid."

He laughed along with her, "It's a good story!"

"Ok, go ahead!" She settled back into the pillow as he started.

"Once upon a time there was a princess. She was the most beautiful woman in the land, and not only was she beautiful: she was clever and strong too. But one day this Princess's mother died. The princess was grief stricken. She locked herself in her tower, and wouldn't come out no matter what. She saw her mother's face, heard her mother's voice. Slowly, this princess was going insane. The Princess's family despaired.

But a young peasant was going to come rescue her. He'd heard of the princess. He was also grief stricken; he'd just lost the love of his life. He figured he'd go talk to the princess; maybe she would understand.

He went and talked to her, and sure enough, they had a great conversation. The princess's family said they'd never seen her so lucid. They peasant kept coming. Eventually he came every day to talk to the princess. They both got better, until they were back to normal. But the peasant kept coming.

You see, he'd fallen in love with the princess, but he didn't know if she loved him back. He was too much of a coward to ask her directly, so instead he masked it in a story. And at the end of the story he told the princess; 'I love you Azula.'" He brushed a piece of hair off her face.

Azula stared at him, wide eyed.

"And the princess replied;"

She continued to stare until he cleared his throat.

"And the princess replied;" he repeated.

"But you told Katara you didn't love me!"

He laughed nervously, "Because I hadn't realized it until she asked me outright. And then I was so confused. I knew she'd be angry if I said yes, so I replied automatically. But then I actually thought about it, and I realized I love you. I love you, Azula."

She smiled, "I love you too, Sokka."

He gaped, "Really?"

"Really. But now I'm tired." She leant back and went right to sleep.

"How did she do that?" Sokka muttered. Then he shrugged, because he was feeling just as tired.

When Katara came through to make breakfast the next morning, she saw them snuggled into each other. She felt a flash of rage first, and then realized her stupidity. If her brother really loved this girl, if she loved him back… Katara would get over her dislike. All she wanted was for her brother to be happy. And it appeared that Azula could give him happiness.


	22. Avatar Fights

"Ha! Psshhhhh. Kaaaa. Fsh, Fsh, Fsh" The little girl ran around the room 'airbending', "The Avatar to the rescue! Shhhhhhhh, ffffff, fsh, fsh fsh"

"I'm the Avatar!" Another (older) little girl got up from where she had been reading and faced the first angrily

"But Emma! I want to be the Avatar!"

"No, you're just an airbender!"

"Emmmmaaaaa! Please, I want to be the Avatar!"

"No! I am already the Avatar! You can't have two Avatars!"

The first girl burst into tears. Giant ones, complete with sobs and puckered lip

"Lillian!" Emma grit her teeth angrily, "Stop crying!"

"I want [sniff] to be[sniff] the Avatar!"

"No! Lillian, I am the Avatar!"

Lillian continued to sob.

"Ok you two, cut it out!" I had to go over and frown at both of them, "Just drop it, ok? Get back to school!"

The exchanged irritated looks, but they nodded.

Oh how I regretted the day I'd let them watch AtLA

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_Yes, this is a true story… ;) _


	23. Food

I had spent the last hour practicing difficult firebending forms, and the last five minutes doing hot-squats. Hundreds of them. My legs felt like jelly, my head hurt, and all I wanted to do was eat dinner and collapse with my scroll. My mouth watered as I thought of the food waiting for me. A rare delicacy, from a strange Earth Kingdom island; Pizza, they called it.

I slipped in the door, yelled at my brother that I was home, and sank down at the table to eat. I knew the pizza would be cold, but I didn't care. It would still be amazingly delicious. I allowed a giant grin to dominate my face (something I did rarely) as I opened the box. The grin disappeared almost as fast as my patient mood.

"_You only left me one piece_?" I screamed at my brother. It wasn't even a big piece, or a good piece. It was slathered in tomato sauce, a tiny wisp of a thing. I screamed many more things, worse things, profanities and such. I threw the box at the wall, and an empty can soon thereafter. I gripped the back of the chair tightly, until I realized I was burning through it.

Finally, now that I was twice as exhausted and irritated, I sat and ate my piece. I couldn't even eat the whole thing; the tomato sauce was so disgusting. After I downed as much as I could, I grabbed a bowl of popcorn and ran upstairs to find my scroll.

I stayed rather annoyed, until a few hours later, when my growling stomach propelled me back to the kitchen. A light turned on in my head and I grinned. I poured myself a glass of cow-hippo milk and ran to my bag. I pulled a smaller, paper bag out of it and smiled at its contents.

Another amazing delicacy, made even better by the milk.

Fudge saved my evening. Gosh, I love foreign food!

_A diary entry, placed in the avatar-verse_


	24. Tsuin

_(Set post Jet-brainwash)_

It was early in the morning when she was woken by a knock. Groaning in annoyance at the disturbance in her sleep, she pulled herself out of bed. She glanced in the mirror to make sure she was presentable, and immediately regretted it. Her mass of hair was going in five different directions, and the makeup she'd carefully applied yesterday was smeared across her face. She started to wipe it off but another, more insistent knock came. She rolled her eyes and shouted 'coming!' as she grabbed a brush and tackled her hair. She yanked open the door and whatever sarcastic remark she was going to make fled her mind. She stared, mouth agape, at the familiar man before her, and the brush fell out of her hand as she gasped.

"Jet."

Jet grinned at her, but inside he was cringing. Where had his baby sister gone? This was a woman, confident and self-assured. She was also beautiful, even in her worn brown nightgown and bed head. This wasn't the toothless, grinning girl he remembered. He realized she was staring at him, so he deepened his grin.

"Hullo Jin."

Jin couldn't stop staring at her brother. He was sitting across from her, eating a bowl full of jook with gusto. She took note of his ragged hair and clothes… poor guy had the same ultra-thick, unruly hair she did.

"Do you want me to give you a haircut?"

Jet raised his eyebrows, "No!"

She grinned at his the eyebrows. She'd used to make fun of them, but now they somehow fit him.

"Do you at least want some new clothes? I have some extra money," she shrugged

He shook his head, "Don't spend your money on me."

Jin sighed, "They why are you here? I'm still not going to come back to your little army."

"I know," Jet gave a shrug that matched hers, "That's over. I'm trying to make a new life. A less… violent one. "

Jin frowned, "I find that hard to believe. You haven't stopped fighting since the day our parents were killed."

"Hey, have some faith little sis!"

"Don't call me that," she muttered, "We're the same age."

"But I came out first," Jet grinned. He loved teasing his twin.

"Whatever. Are you looking for a place to stay?"

"No, just wanted to stop in and say hi!"

"Well… I…" She was feeling rather stifled, "I have to go." She stood up and smoothed out her skirt, "I'll be back in an hour. You can stay here"

He shrugged, "Ok."

She slid out the door and headed for the tea shop down the street, doing her hair as she walked. Her brother's visit had left her feeling mature and confident. Seeing how good her life was compared to his… it was sad, sure, but it made her feel better. She wasn't going to waste this newfound dauntlessness. She was going to talk to Lee.

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She sat at her familiar table, the one by the door, and watched Lee like always. She loved to watch him just do his job; interact with the customers and with his uncle. But today would be different. Today she was actually going to speak to him, going to say something other than 'Ginseng please'.

She noticed that Lee was talking to his Uncle, and they were both looking at her. She blushed slightly, realizing that this was her moment.

She slipped up to the front counter.

"Thank you for the tea!" She handed Lee money, "What's your name?"

"My name is Lee," She already knew this, but it was all she could think to say. He continued, "My uncle and I just moved here."

She smiled, "Hi Lee, my name's Jin. Thank you and… I was wondering if you wanted to go out sometime." Well that went smoothly.

Lee looked fairly stunned, but his uncle popped in; "He'd love to!"

Jin's smile turned into a grin, "Great! I'll meet you in front of the shop at sundown!"

She turned and almost ran out, before she could embarrass herself anymore.

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"You're practically glowing!" Jet grinned, "Where did you go?"

"I just went to have some tea!"

"Tea? Tea doesn't leave you glowing!"

"This tea does. It's the best tea ever. So amazing, and incredible, and –" She stopped when she realized he was staring at her, one eyebrow raised.

"I see… so what's his name?"

"Lee. Wait... you!" She smacked him on the shoulder, and then grinned, "You always get me."

"I know. I'm just good at it. So, this Lee… is he respectable?"

She nodded.

"And is he nice? Kind? Good enough for you?"

She nodded again, and gave her brother a quick hug, "It's nice to have you here, Jet. I missed you."

"Missed you too, sis. Now, you better go get ready for your date!"

She giggled, "Thanks!"

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"Am I ready?" She turned in a quick circle.

"You look great!" She really did. His brotherly instinct made him want to keep her locked up in the house forever, but he knew she would never go for that.

"Thanks," She smiled and gave her brother another hug, "See you later!"

"Later," He repeated. He watched her leave, a strange feeling in his gut.

He was going to follow her.

He knew if she saw him she'd be livid, but he didn't care. What if this guy was mean, violent even? What if he didn't show? What if he turned out to be a loser? Jin wouldn't want to be stuck. She'd want to be able to get away, able to leave without being rude. Jet provided a reason to leave.

He was going to follow her.

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He watched her, when she picked up her date, when they headed towards the restaurant. The guy seemed faintly familiar, but Jet couldn't remember why. Probably seen him on the street or something.

The guy seemed nice enough. A bit shy, but not mean. Jet watched them until he got hungry, at which point he walked over to a stand selling noodle soup. He got himself a bowl and settled back down to watch his sister. Truth be told, it was rather boring. They were just talking, talking about their lives, and such. Bo-ring.

He had almost fallen asleep when he noticed them getting up. He yawned, threw away his empty bowl, and stood up to follow them. As soon as they got out of the crowd they started running, Jin pulling Lee along.

Jet cursed under his breath and ran after them. What on earth was she doing? He was even more confused when they stopped at a boring fountain. He was too far away to hear them, but he could see his sister's disappointment. He crept a little closer along the rooftops, moving to where he could hear them.

He heard Lee say "Close your eyes. And don't peek."

Jin complied, and Lee stepped forward. Jet watched in amazement as the common tea shop worker started to firebend.

_Firebend!_

What on earth was a firebender doing here and how had Jin gotten involved with him?

Jet was about to jump out and attack when a piece of paper landed on him, temporarily distracting him. He pulled the piece of paper off of his shoulder and read it.

Appa? The Avatar and his gang were here! And that meant… _Katara._ Jet thought about her for a moment… thought about how he had lost her.

When he turned his attention back to Jin and Lee, they were kissing.

Kissing?

He was about to leap out _again, _but before he could Lee ran away. Instead of launching himself off of the roof, he slid down slowly, flyer still clutched in his hand.

"Jet?" Jin shot a lazy glance at her brother before turning back to the direction Lee had run.

"Yeah, it's me. Jin, do you know what he is?" Jet stepped up to stand next to his sister, following her gaze

"Amazing? Incredible? Wonderful?" Jin giggled, something Jet hadn't heard in a very long time.

"Jin…" Jet turned toward his sister. He studied her face, the crinkles in the corners of her eyes from her smile, the hair that was falling in her eyes that she didn't care about. He could tell she was utterly happy.

"Oh Jet, I've never been so happy in my life!" She turned on him and hugged him tight, "So happy!"

He couldn't do it. He couldn't ruin her life, yet again.

"I'm leaving, Jin."

"You're leaving?" She turned sharply towards him.

"Yeah. I'm going to help some old friends." He glanced at the flyer in his hand, and then back up at his sister, "Hopefully I'll see you soon."

She smiled sadly, "Don't stay away so long this time. And if you see any of the other kids… tell them I say hi."

Jet nodded, "Ok. Will do."

Jin wrapped him in another hug, "I love you, _Tsuin_"

"Love you too, _Tsuin_."

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It was early in the morning when she was woken by a knock. Again. Déjà vu.

She went through the same routine, pulling on a soft green robe and green slippers as well. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and opened the door. She was greeted with another shocking sight.

"Longshot, Smellerbee!" She opened the door wide and let them in.

"Jin…" Smellerbee sighed, and Longshot lay a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"It's been so long since I saw you two! You've grown so much! Here, sit down, please!" She pointed towards the table and they sat down.

"Jet is dead." This was Longshot. The boy never spoke, so she knew he was telling the truth.

She sank down into the nearest chair.

"How?"

"He died saving the Avatar, and the Avatar's friends," explained Smellerbee.

"And us," murmured Longshot

She had known this would happen someday. It's the old saying – 'live by the sword, die by the sword.' Jet lived his life as one big fight… now he had died so horribly young.

"Sixteen," She whispered, "He was only sixteen."

"I'm sorry Jin," Smellerbee sighed, "I'm really sorry."

"It's not your fault," She was still whispering, "You didn't kill him"

Longshot got up to make some tea, and Smellerbee got Jin a blanket.

Jin felt like she had nothing left. Just two weeks ago she was feeling on top of the world. Now she'd lost her brother, and she hadn't heard from Lee in days.

She buried her face in the blanket and cried. She hadn't cried in years. Crying was for sissies, her brother had always said, crying made you weak. Crying didn't help.

She cried.


End file.
